• latw-52-10
    Ivory Head. (Courtesy of the Vedat Nedim Tör Museum, Istanbul)

    Ivory Head

    Date
    6th c BC, Lydian
    Museum
    Istanbul, Archaeological Museum, 4657
    Museum Inventory No.
    4657
    Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
    IAM 4657
    Material
    Ivory
    Object Type
    Bone and Ivory, Sculpture
    Sculpture Type
    Human Figure
    Site
    Sardis
    Sector
    Nec
    Trench
    Butler Tomb S1
    Locus
    Butler Tomb S1
    Description
    “Above the forehead and back of the head are flat surfaces…On each cheek is a horizontal crescent-shaped depression, and below the lower lip is still another depression.…The ears are large and fully modeled. Attached to each is a large circular ear-ring 1 cm in diameter carved in the ivory…Through the neck and back of the head is a vertical perforation 7.5 mm in diameter” (Curtis 1925, 35). Height 0.041 m.
    Comments
    Recovered in 1913 by the Butler Expedition, from the South Necropolis of Sardis, Tomb S1, described and illustrated in plan in Butler 1922, 140-141, 162, 164 and Ill. 182 on p. 163. Five items from the tomb besides the ivory head are recorded in notes by G. H. Chase: two items of bronze, an Attic (?) red-figure pyxis (with sole of foot or fish on the cover); stone “hone” (i.e., whetstone ?).
    See Also
    Dusinberre, “Ivories”; Greenewalt, “Introduction”; Greenewalt, “Cosmetics”; Baughan, “Lydian Burial Customs”.
    Bibliography
    Butler 1922, 140-141, ill. 156 on p. 141; Curtis 1925, 35, no. 87; Barnett 1948, 18 and 23, fig. 20; Akurgal 1961, 156, 159, pl. VII a-b; Meriçboyu 2001, 50, fig. 3.
    Author
    CHG