Scenes of daily life

Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati – July 2000, June 2026

The royal family

Scenes of daily life are usually depicted in a realistic manner and this is the case even for scenes connected with the Urkesh royal family.
The scene of Zamena the royal nurse (AKc3) presents us with a charming real vignette: touching the child seated on the lap of queen Uqnitum takes place in an environment in which Uqnitum is having her hair braided!

AKc3

The cook of Uqnitum, Tuli, has two scenes showing servants at work (AKc2 and AKc12). The butcher displays his knife very prominently and holds the animal to be slaughtered. A woman servant stirs something in two necked jars which are placed in a basket. This woman and the butcher flank the inscription with the queen's name and the animal stands below Tuli's name in both her seals.

AKc2

AKc12

In another royal seal (AKq1) both servants are bending over their work and the inscription with the name and title of the queen is placed over their backs. They are holding up her seal inscription, as if to symbolize their status as subjects of the queen.

AKc14

An interesting vignette ...

AKc4

Other settings

Although not a complete double register, a potter's workshop is depicted as a secondary scene behind a seated figure (A1.364). In the lower part we see the potter working on a large necked jar while above her is a shelf with two completed necked jars. A16.167 also appears to show two potters at work with a small shelf with two complete vessels above them.

A1.364

A16.167

In seal impression A5q141 daily life is also combined with a seated figure. The two other figures placed behind this seated figure are both working, one is also seated but on a small stool stirring something in a large jar and the other in a container that may be made of leather, more than likely connected with two possible loaves of bread placed above.

A1q141

In A6.88 we see another seated worker as well as two standing figures stirring something in a tall vessel. Banquet scenes can be ritualistic or natural (the ritualistic examples are discussed below).

A6.88

A1.305 shows a table piled with food and a figure holding a small jar. Both convey the impression of daily life. A5.58 has an uncomplicated scene with a simple table holding only a small pile of food, possibly bread, and a vessel which may be holding the liquid held in the conical cup in the hand of the seated figure.

A1.305

A5.58