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Ancient Near East, modern-day Syria, Tell Brak, Late Uruk Period, ca. 3300 to 3000 BCE. A beautiful eye idol, hand-built from pottery, covered in an earthy orange slip. The idol is defined by a wide, rectangular base which traces upwards and diverges into a pair of thick loops which form the “eyes.” The obverse, reverse, and peripheries of the idol are decorated in a dense motif of impressed dashes and dots, and traces of chalky white pigment suggest this artifact was at one time painted with vivid colors. Eye idols were named in the 1930s by the British archaeologist Max Mallowan when he was excavating at the mound called Tell Brak and found hundreds of small anthropomorphic items of similar form to this one – some kind of simplified body topped by large discs for eyes and no other discernible facial features. He named the place where he found them the “Temple of the Eyes.” Size: 5.5″ W x 4.2″ H (14 cm x 10.7 cm); 5.7″ H (14.5 cm) on included custom stand.
More recently, items like this one have been found beyond the Temple of the Eyes, leading French archaeologist Catherine Breniquet to speculate that examples like this one could have also been used for separating wool while spinning. The object would have been placed in front of a seated person who used the holes to separate two or three strands and then twist them together. Artwork on cylinder seals from Uruk seems to support this hypothesis. Other scholars have suggested they might have been lids for narrow jars or parts of a firedog. What do you think this mysterious object might have been? See a very similar example with its original shiny red paint still visible at the Louvre (https://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/eye-idol).
Condition: This is a fragment of a larger item. Small chips to base, body, and eyes, with light softening to some finer motifs, and fading to original coloration. Nice earthen deposits throughout.
Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-private Hirsch collection, Germany
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