Day 152 - Lion temple peg
May 10, 2019
Gallery 403 contains many small metal and ceramic objects from Mesopotamia, Syria, and Anatolia that date from about 3000-1000 B.C.E. Perhaps because they are small, perhaps because some are fragmentary, they engage my interest less than did those in the preceding galleries. Still, several things capture my attention. I notice many female figures that I think must be fertility symbols (reinforcing this interpretation, a couple have small holes in their vulvas), along with a beautiful second millennium B.C.E. gold ewer from central Anatolia that is decorated with concentric circles. There are cymbals and rattles, presumably used in ritual performances, and numerous cylinder seals shown with images of their impressions. I'm sure I'd find the latter fascinating if I had the patience to look closely at them. Perhaps another day.
Animals continue to figure prominently among th,e works on display. Today's object is one of these: a copper alloy foundation peg, perhaps 5 inches high, in the form of a lion. Found in northeastern Syria, it dates from 2200-2100 BC.E. I read that deposits of objects like these were placed in the foundations of temples to protect and sanctify the structures. Some pegs also identified the temples' builders, physical testimony to the builders' devotion to the gods.
This foundation peg shows a lion rampant, its huge clawed forepaws placed on a piece of the same metal that is inscribed with cuneiform writing. The lion's mane and whiskers are clearly modeled. Its mouth is wide open, its sharp teeth clearly visible, its eyes staring as if enraged. By all rights, it should look like a fearsome figure if it's to serve its function as guardian. But when I first saw it, it struck me as rather winsome and endearing, pehaps because of its little snub nose.
Over my visits to the Egyptian and Roman galleries (but not the African ones), I've seen many groups of tourists whose badges identify them as members of Oasis Biblical Tour. The groups are often multiracial, with both Black and white tour leaders, and clearly Christian. They are out in force in this gallery. In the hour or so that I am in the gallery, seven or eight Oasis groups, including a group of Italians, stop in front of a display case containing objects, including jewelry, from the cemetery of Ur. The tour leaders all ask, "Who do we know who came from Ur?" and someone invariably answers, "Abraham." I am shocked when I hear one of the group leaders describe the jewelry as having belonged to Sarah, Abraham's wife; I'm not sure whether he then said that the remark was in jest. Another guide shows her group an image on her tablet of Sarah packing up her jewelry for the trek westward. At one point, as I'm examining the case and its contents surrounded by the group, I hear something particularly egregious and mutter, "Jesus." There's a moment of silence, and I fear I was audible. The guides then go on to talk about Abraham's faith in following God's command to leave a rich urban society and settle in the wilderness.
Animals continue to figure prominently among th,e works on display. Today's object is one of these: a copper alloy foundation peg, perhaps 5 inches high, in the form of a lion. Found in northeastern Syria, it dates from 2200-2100 BC.E. I read that deposits of objects like these were placed in the foundations of temples to protect and sanctify the structures. Some pegs also identified the temples' builders, physical testimony to the builders' devotion to the gods.
This foundation peg shows a lion rampant, its huge clawed forepaws placed on a piece of the same metal that is inscribed with cuneiform writing. The lion's mane and whiskers are clearly modeled. Its mouth is wide open, its sharp teeth clearly visible, its eyes staring as if enraged. By all rights, it should look like a fearsome figure if it's to serve its function as guardian. But when I first saw it, it struck me as rather winsome and endearing, pehaps because of its little snub nose.
Over my visits to the Egyptian and Roman galleries (but not the African ones), I've seen many groups of tourists whose badges identify them as members of Oasis Biblical Tour. The groups are often multiracial, with both Black and white tour leaders, and clearly Christian. They are out in force in this gallery. In the hour or so that I am in the gallery, seven or eight Oasis groups, including a group of Italians, stop in front of a display case containing objects, including jewelry, from the cemetery of Ur. The tour leaders all ask, "Who do we know who came from Ur?" and someone invariably answers, "Abraham." I am shocked when I hear one of the group leaders describe the jewelry as having belonged to Sarah, Abraham's wife; I'm not sure whether he then said that the remark was in jest. Another guide shows her group an image on her tablet of Sarah packing up her jewelry for the trek westward. At one point, as I'm examining the case and its contents surrounded by the group, I hear something particularly egregious and mutter, "Jesus." There's a moment of silence, and I fear I was audible. The guides then go on to talk about Abraham's faith in following God's command to leave a rich urban society and settle in the wilderness.
I recount all this to Suzanne when I see her this evening, and she immediately pegs the goal of these tours: to use art to uphold the view that the Bible is true history rather than, as we would see it, a collection of legends, myths, laws, etc. When I tell her about the large number of tours, she says, "I'm afraid there are more of them than there are of us; we live in a bubble." She may be especially sensitive to these issues because, as I understand it, her sister and brother-in-law were members of a fundamentalist megachurch in Colorado Springs.
Why does the museum let these groups in? To my mind, they are using art to spread ignorance and propaganda. But as I think about it, I can't remember anything the leaders said that was specifically wrong; it was just the perspective they adopted. In any case, the Met must make a lot of money from all these visitors.
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