The deep fringe style

Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati – July 2000, June 2025

Introduction

This style includes three of the Queens lyre scenes (qu4, qu6, and qu7. Her other lyre scene, qu8, is poorly preserved.

The detail of the fringe in Uqnitum’s lyre scenes can be seen for instance in q4 where the singer and the two standing attendants have the fringe carved as a long line of short diagonals down the middle of their garments; this pattern is clearly visible and contributes to the sense of the style. The queen too is wearing a garment with rows of highlighted pleats in her garment.

This patterning in the carving of the sides of the relief is also used in other scenes in addition to the queen’s lyre scenes. A5.135 NOT IN Cat by field # is an animal combat scene in which the ruff of what presumably are two lions is carved in this manner, that is more realistically. Another animal combat carved in this style is A5q845.2. In this large animals are fighting; one is a lion with open mouth whose ruff over his head and down his back is carved in this Deep Fringe style of short diagonal lines but here these are emphasized by also patterning of the ruff extending beyond the lion’s neck.

The heads of the human figures in this style are large in proportion to the rest of the body and the noses are carved as a triangle. Fully modeled figures are characteristic with little or no interior differentiation (this is a carry’ over from ED III carving styles). Diagonal parallel patterns in the composition are characteristics of the compositions in this style as is the even filling of the figures in the composition (see A1.220 Get drawing of figs, unclear in Cat by Field #). The feet are carved as long wavy lines with the ankles seen as triangles (see A1.384 GET DRAWING).

Iconography

The iconography used in this style is varied. For instance A1.221 shows a seated deity with very finely carved features; he is faced by another seated figure who has a small worshipper touching his lap which seems to be a sign of worship or respect in these Mozan sealings (it is only in this style that we have this type of worship rendered). The small worshipper’s garment is the only one preserved and it is clearly done in the Deep Fringe style. We have only a small part of the seated figure on the right. From this sealing we can contrast the face of the seated deity and the worshipper. The seated deity has his face rendered in a natural way so that there is a natural proportion between the eye, nose and lips. The small worshipper on the other hand has a quite large eye and nose for a face of this size. Another aspect of the Deep Fringe style can be seen here in that the arm and hand of the worshipper are exaggerated as they touch the lap of the deity, just as in the two worship scenes with the lyre player the arm of one of the attendants is elongated. It appears then that an important aspect of the worship rite as shown in the seal is exaggerated and that if a larger attendant who is doing something other than touching the lap then that is the most important. However if only touching the lap is present in the rite then that is the portion exaggerated. The star in this scene is very beautifully rendered. A variation of the worship theme is found in A1.241 which is carved in this style in this case too the most important gestures are emphasized by being elongated. Therefore the arm of the deity is extended out and up holding the cup the arm of the figure on the other side of the altar is both extended so that the hand touches the altar; this last gesture is emphasized by the fact that above this arm is a crescent with a dot inside.

Both the lyre scenes are rendered in this style and have the usual characteristics of elongation of the most important arm, facial features, feet and ankles, carving of the fringe, even and measured placement of the figures across the surface of the design. One of the most beautiful rollings excavated in this building A1.237 is carved in this style

Banquet scene

Another scene rendered in this style is a banquet scene where there is a seated person holding a cup in front of whom is a standing figure who appears also to be holding a cup. The way the hat on the seated figure is carved is the same as the small tree in the landscape scene ( A5.115). The pleated garment of the seated figure shows clearly the pleats in the thickness of the relief as it goes under the figure on top of the stool. Above in the top rolling is a jar and the foot of the person carved in the same way feet are carved in the Deep Fringe style

The variation in the themes carved in this style can also be seen in the landscape A5.115. It is included in this style not only because of the way the small tree is carved but also because of the emphasis on movement in the animal position .

Conclusion: the globular scene

The compositional effect of the placement of a small worshipper before the deity is to leave more space in front of the upper portion of the deity and therefore empnasizing the deity. The even distribution of the figures across the surface of the design appears to me “classic” in the sense of an evenly measured, dignified and even solemn progression across the design . This especially seems appropriate in the case of the worship scenes. In other types of scenes such as the animal combat and the landscape a more varied composition is used which is more appropriate to these motifs