“Note sulla produzione artistica hurrita e mitannica,”
La civiltà dei Hurriti = La Parola del Passato 55, pp. 349-365.
This brief but important article deals with the question of specificity as it regards a style that might be properly called Hurrian. Some useful caveats are suggested in dealing with this complex issue, and on the whole the author is cautious about the possibility of providing a positive answer. Thus, for instance, he expresses reservations on the possibility of connections between architectural motifs in Nuzi and Urkesh glyptic (p. 355, with reference to M. Kelly-Buccellati 1996 “Nuzi Viewed from Urkesh”; see also p. 365).
P.355f: the stylistic fluidity of the lions of Tish-atal is compared to that found in the lion on the seal of Tupkish.
P.361f: Urkesh glyptic is considered to be of the highest quality and importance, with possible Akkadian influences (as suggested by the seal of Tar’am-Agade). The stylistic quality of the seal of Tupkish with the reclining lion (of which a drawing is given in the article) is described in relationship to the lion of Tish-atal, and the possibility of a local style is also suggested in relationship to the statuette A12.30 (of which a drawing is reproduced in the article) – though the latter is considered to be of “limited artistic quality”.
P. 363: in the conclusion, the author indicates that work at Tell Mozan is providing a “formidable contribution to the understanding of a great political center in northern Syria, where the Hurrian element is clearly very strong, even though it is not yet possible to define its artistic production through a single interpretive key ('un solo registro di lettura')”.
[G. Buccellati – June 2002]