Zamena’s workshop

Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati – July 2000, April 2025

Child

The small child may not be carved in the same workshop or if it is then it is carved by a less skilled carver. The small child scene shows figures with large heads as compared with the size of the bodies and also with over large eyes which take up a disproportional amount of the face. The style of the dress of the person ( presumably the queen ) who is holding the child is different than the others where the queen is depicted, that is she is usually shown as wearing a pleated dress but in the small child scene she is wearing a fringed garment as are the other figures in the scene and the other persons in the other scenes (fringe shown best in A5.61)This may be to represent a less important subject matter. Also the way the child is depicted as sitting on the lap but far away from the woman (queen?) and somewhat akwardly. (ck how the large child is sitting).

Servant

The servant behind the queen has her hand held up toward the back of the head of the queen and importantly she is wearing a fringed dress which had the fringe pattern down the middle of the front and not carved on the side as in the Deep Fringe style. For all of these reasons I now think that the seals of the nurse ZAmena were carved in another workshop, one which had the possibility of carving some figures with a certain amount of detail (as in the human headed bull or the star on these seals ) but which did not carve human figures with as much skill. There are two seals of Zamena. Zamena b has large heads with over large eyes and thick lips.

Zamena a and b

What is the difference iconographicaly and stylistically between Zamena a and Zamena b? Zamena b has a star in the field while Zamena has a crescent between the queen and the attendent behind her.

Other seals in this style

There are more seals than the Queen’s inscribed seals carved in this style. There is at least one animal combat scene (one with lion’s mane carved emphasizing the edge, A5.135, see my notes). Also the landscape scene (A5.115) is carved in this style. It shows a small tree, of the evergreen tree type, growing next to a hillock out of which another leafy type tree grows. From this hillock a large bull or more probably cow is supporting itself. The small evergreen tree on the left is shown with a flat central portion and deeply carved pattern on the edges. This alternation of the flat center and the deeply carved pattern on the edges is characteristic for this style.