“La figlia di Naram-Sin,”
Urkesh Folio, 1 (2000), 6 plates.
See online article version (Italian)
This contribution displays, along 6 plates [i.e. images of archaeological artefacts correlated with explanatory texts] describing the most relevant objects found at Urkesh.
After a first introduction, stressing the importance of the discovery of Tar’am-Agade’s sealings, Plate 1 offers an image on the so-called ‘Monna Lisa’ [see here for picture of the original masterpiece] of Urkesh, i.e. the clay figurine (A12.30) portraying a woman (probably an idol of a local deity), found in a pit slightly post-dating the abandonment of the Royal Palace of Urkesh, being therefore datable to the 23rd century BC. It shows both naturalistic (as for the earrings resembling A10.221, from the Palace) and expressionistic elements (recognisable e.g. in her facial traits).
Plate 2 describes the Royal Palace of Urkesh, discussing its identification and its structure consisting of a residential wing (AR), a service wing (AK) an absidal structure (the ābi and a city wall surrounding all the buildings (see Royal Palace).
Plate 3 presents the newly discovered sealings (A13.9, A13.28 [see here for pictures], A13q106.1 and A13q97.8 [see here for pictures], with the composite drawing A13c1 [see here]) of Tar’am-Agade, daughter of Naram-Sin (23rd century BC). They were found in the Royal Palace and testify direct contacts between Northern and Southern Mesopotamia (between Urkesh, Ebla and Akkad, a triangle-shaped network [see map] which could resemble that current network between Paris, Bruxelles and Milano [see scheme]) – [For this topic cf. Buccellati and Kelly-Buccellati 2001].
Plate 4 displays the sealings of Ishar-beli (A13.28 [see here for pictures] and A12q538.1-3 [see here for pictures]), coeval to those of Tar’am-Agade, describing the peculiar shape and presence of a rampant horse in the middle of the scene, connecting Akkadian and Hurrian features.
Plate 5 exposes the conservation and preservation techniques invented especially for Urkesh architectural remains (the walls of the Royal Palace) – [For this topic cf. Bonetti and Buccellati 2003 ; Buccellati, G. 2000; Buccellati, G. 2006a; Buccellati, G. 2006b; Buccellati, G. 2014a; Buccellati, G. 2014b].
Plate 6 deals with the peculiar expressionism of Urkesh art, well represented by a clay figurine (A7.507 [see here for pictures) portraying probably a common man resembling, at a glance, the ‘Scream’ of Eduard Munch [see here for picture of the original masterpiece]: “It is often, in Urkesh art, that we find the stressing of an expressive gesture […]. Urkesh artists had an extraordinary ability to render realistically the most minute details. Thus expressionism is to be understood as a free stylistic choice, very close to our modern sensibility” (plate 6).