Figure of a man with an oryx, a monkey, and a leopard skin
Unknown Artist
ca. 8th century BCE
Medium
Ivory
Dimensions
H. 5 5/16 x W. 3in. (13.5 x 7.6cm)
Classification
Ivory/Bone-Sculpture
Culture & Period
Assyrian · Neo-Assyrian
Department
Ancient Near Eastern Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1960
Accession Number
60.145.11
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite ivory sculpture, titled *Figure of a Man with an Oryx, a Monkey, and a Leopard*, hails from the Neo-Assrian period around the 8th century BCE. Carved by an unknown Assyrian artist, it stands just 5 5/16 inches tall, a testament the remarkable skill of ancient Near Eastern craftsmen working in miniature. Housed the Metropolitan Museum of Art Department of Ancient Near Eastern, this piece captures a bearded man holding an oryx (a graceful antelope) and a monkey, draped in a leopard skin—symbols of exotic luxury and power drawn from distant lands. In the Neo-Assyrian Empire, at it...