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Tile with half of a theater mask
Tile with half of a theater mask

Tile with half of a theater mask

Date1st century B.C. - 1st century A.D.
Label TextEvery aspect of life in ancient Iraq and Iran was ruled by the gods. To curry favor, plants, liquids, oils and animals were regularly brought to temples and ritually offered to the gods. The wealthy could purchase sculptures of animals and even "portraits" of themselves in stone-votive figures that also were left in temples as clever attempts to deceive the gods into thinking that the animal offering, or the patron himself, perpetually remained in the temple. Amulets were popular as daily protections against harmful magic, particularly those depicting Humbaba-a mythical giant with a face of entrails-and animals like frogs, especially favored among the Babylonians.
Object number55.120
Provenance[Nassar Bros., Cairo, Egypt]; purchased from gallery by Seattle Art Museum / Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection, Seattle, Washington, April 28, 1955
Published ReferencesThe Art Quarterly, Winter 1955, p. 403
Credit LineEugene Fuller Memorial Collection
Dimensions1 1/4 x 1/2 x 1/8 in. (3.1 x 1.3 x 0.3 cm)
MediumGlass mosaic
Mosaic Fragment:  Floral Decoration
Egyptian
ca. 1st century
Object number: 61.69
Roundel:  Lotus Blossom
Egyptian
ca. 1370-1350 B.C.
Object number: 61.71
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
Persian
15th century
Object number: 39.61
Tile with a lion attacking a bovine
Persian
15th - 16th centuries
Object number: 39.236
Inlaid Tile of Lapwing
Egyptian
Object number: 65.41
Glass tile
Byzantine
9th-12th century
Object number: 69.27
Tile:  Inlaid Lotus Design
Egyptian
ca. 1375 B.C.
Object number: 55.129
Wall tile with inscribed pommel
1265 B.C.-1245 B.C.
Object number: 61.52
Sculptor's Model with profile of a woman
Egyptian
3rd - 1st century B.C.
Object number: 57.172
Relief Fragment: 2 Profile Heads of Kings
Egyptian
Object number: 57.173