Realism

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Introduction

Realism, or naturalism, is an important aspect of the major styles of seal iconography from Urkesh. Both the individual figures and the way they interact with each other are shown with attention to details of real life. This emerges in Urkesh with Tupkish, and is in contrast with the heraldic style of the earlier ED period.

We will look here at three aspects in the treatment of the figures:

• the treatment of the single figure
• the compositional organization of the figures
• the representation of movemnet

In the following pages we will look at three special topics:

• scenes of daily life,
• ritual scenes,
• banquet scenes

and at the formal treatment of two particular details:

• deep fringe
• pointed edge

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Individual figures

Many of the seal impressions excavated in ancient Urkesh display detailed and realistic figures, some of which have a distinct character. The figures can be ones found in nature or the local environment or they can be results from the seal cutter's imagination or from historical precedents, or a combination of these elements.      The realistic rendering takes into account the body structure of humans, animals and deities. Deities are imaged by combining body structure elements with natural elements such as sun rays (A12.82).The artist considers also the proportions, body positions of the figures they are rendering and movements of these figures.      Some of the seals can have a mixture of realistic and non-realistic images. For instance the Kumarbi seal impression (AKc21) depicts his body and the animal standing behind him in a realistic manner but the mountain is shown very small.      Movement, too, is analyzed and rendered in the naturalistic aspects of the figures. This is especially important in the animal combat scenes (A16q834.1).

A12.82 A16q834.1 AKc21

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The impact of composition

Also important is the way in which composition displays the relationship of individual figures with each other.      For instance in a seal carved in the Deep Fringe style (A9.76) we see a procession that emphasizes all the figures in two ways. (1) By positioning each figure in a wide space, the seal cutter highlights their garments and the decorative nature of these garments. And (2) the procession itself is realistic since the figures are separated not only by a relatively wide space but also the first standing figure is characterized by the weapons that have been placed in front and in back of him thereby emphasizing the importance of this figure. Both the first and second figures are highlighted as they both have their arms pointed to the seated figure whereas the third figure only has one arm raised while the second is at waist level.

A9.76

While most images portray sitting or standing figures connected in some way to the figures or objects surrounding them, some have compositions of scattered figures such as seal impression A5q704.1: the figures themselves are realistic but their relationship to one another is not clear.

A5q704.1

A7.420

A16c1

A16c3

A1.469

A1.364

Also, some seal impressions have figures of different sizes (A6.102, A7.321).

A6.102

A7.321

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Movement

Movement also is another important aspect of naturalism in the Urkesh seals.       Movement is common in the animal combat scenes, not only those scenes of animals fighting each other (A7.305) but also in scenes of humans fighting animals (A5.135)

A7.305

A5.135

We have interpreted AKc21 as representing the god Kumarbi walking in the mountains, as described in a mythological text.

AKc21

Movement is also central to seals of a winged gate placed on the back of a bull, for instance A5.120. In this seal impression the bull is positioned as if prancing as the body is higher in front. The two human figures flanking the bull have their legs and arms bent as if supporting the gate on the bull's back.      In A5.137 the bull does not move but the human figure is moving to hold the gate on the bull's back.

A5.120

A5.137

Iin A5.115 we see a hill with trees. In A1.115 there is emphasis on movement in the animal's position, shown as if climbing the hill.

A5.115