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| Object Number: | 51-6-175 |
| Place Name: | Iraq, Nippur |
| Period: | Achaemenid (uncertain) |
| Credit Line: | University Museum-University of Chicago/Oriental Institute Expedition, 1951 |
Description
W/Tamborine. Only one arm, both hands and tambourine of female tambourine player.
| Object Number: | 33-35-377 |
| Place Name: | Iraq, Ur |
| Credit Line: | British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1933 |
Description
a note in the same white ink as the UE III number states "3 frags" UE III: banquet in fableland, where animals play the parts of men. The lion is the king, and he sits, tumbler in hand, on a stool with openwork sides and bull's feet as elegant as that of a queen (cf No. 382). Animals, too, are his servants: three asses (?) led by a goat, all standing on their hind legs. The two first bring a spouted vase and a sealed jar, the two last play the harp and the cymbals. Smaller animals, monkey, cat or jackal, complete with court, sitting, dancing, or catching a small beast in their claws. The butcher is a lion, who cuts with a dagger the throat of a young gazelle, over a young ass holding a stick or tuba (?). There is perhaps an eagle on the upper shelf, and a jumping kid. The offerings are piled before the king and on the shelf: spouted and two-handled jars, loaves or cheeses of round, oval, and triangular form, two legs of mutton. On the butt-end of the cylinder are cut three figures, a wild boar, a scorpion, and an arrow-point. Clay sealing. Baked and shellacked post-excavation. Fragment impressed with designs of animals playing musical instruments.
| Object Number: | 51-6-173 |
| Place Name: | Iraq, Nippur |
| Period: | Achaemenid (uncertain) |
| Credit Line: | University Museum-University of Chicago/Oriental Institute Expedition, 1951 |
Description
Female figurine holding large tamborine in front of left shoulder. Head missing. Legs barely indicated; body ending at waist.
| Object Number: | L-29-298 |
| Place Name: | Iraq |
| Culture: | Babylonian |
Description
Upper part of a human figure (woman) holding a round object (tambourine?) to breast
This object is on display
| Object Number: | L-29-303 |
| Place Name: | Iraq |
| Culture: | Babylonian |
Description
Seated Musician (Lute Player) with 2 animals -seems to be from same mold as 53-11-90
This object is on display
| Object Number: | B16728 |
| Place Name: | Iraq, Ur |
| Period: | Early Dynastic IIIB |
| Credit Line: | British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1928 |
Description
CBS Register: VI Season. Lapis cylinder seal found against the right arm of Queen Shubad. with the gold pin U.10940 (B16729) (3 pins and 3 cylinders) UE II: Cylinder seal, lapis-lazuli. This dark blue lapis lazuli cylinder seal was found leaning against the right upper arm of a queen. On it is engraved a double-register banquet scene with only female participants. All of the women wear a skirt or a dress with a long fringe, and their long hair is drawn together at the nape of the neck in a bun. In the upper register, two females sit on identical folding stools facing each other and raising their conical drinking cups. Between them, two standing servants gesture with raised hands, and to the far left a third servant stands gently waving a square fan. In a second banquet vignette in the lower register, a single female celebrant sits on a stool facing a high table laden with breads and a haunch of meat and is flanked by servants. Behind her, a woman holds a handled jar and raises a cup, perhaps offering a portion of beer to drink with the meal. To the side, a separate scene depicts a musical performance, in which one woman plays a small four-stringed instrument accompanied by two women who clap cymbals and perhaps sing. Two similar cylinder seals were found close to the body of the queen. On one, the banqueters drink from straws that drawn down liquid from a large jar. The other carries an inscription Pu-abi, nin designating the owner as Puabi, the queen. It is this seal that makes Puabi’s identity certain. The two cuneiform signs that compose her name were initially read as "Shub-ad" in Sumerian. Today, however, we think they should be read in Akkadian as "Pu-abi."
This object is on display
| Object Number: | L-29-297 |
| Place Name: | Iraq |
| Culture: | Babylonian |
Description
Figure playing the double pipes
This object is on display
| Object Number: | B17694B |
| Place Name: | Iraq, Ur |
| Credit Line: | British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1928 |
Description
Gold and Lapis head of the Great Lyre. Eyes of head are either Conus or Strombus CBS Register: Bull's gold head, and shell inlay plaques. Harp of the king. Reconstructed. PG 789 (A is the Plaque, B is the Head) Bull's head in sheet gold with lapis beard found in grave 789 of the Royal Cemetery at Ur. There is a great deal of detail in the bull’s eyes, snout, and the curls of its beard, which represents the power of the king as well as the god Shamash. It was originally affixed to the front of a wooden lyre, the decayed remains of which were somewhat apparent in the soil when excavated.
This object is on display
| Object Number: | 30-12-2 |
| Place Name: | Iraq, Ur |
| Period: | Early Dynastic IIIB |
| Credit Line: | British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1930 |
Description
CBS Register. Ur 1928-9, Season VII. Cylinder Seal. lapis. Dumu kisal. Symposium, harp. PG 1237. Body 16 crossed out of for Body 7. Belongs to group nos. 703 to 709. This seal was found under the body of "individual no. 7," who was collapsed in the corner of the death pit near the cluster of three magnificent lyres - one of gold, one of silver, and one a large bull effigy lyre of mixed materials. In addition to the seal, the victim was rather sedately adorned, wearing only gold earrings, hair wires, a gold pin with a fluted lapis lazuli ball head, three gold fingers, a "dog collar" necklace of gold and lapis lazuli, and a lapis lazuli bead necklace. The seal is a finely carved double-register banquet scene that carries an inscription giving a title and personal name Dumukisal. Combining elements of other banquet seals, here three seated celebrants are show in the upper register: two face each other and drink through tubes from a large vessel; the other raises her hand in a gesture to a standing servant. Curiously, the inscription is placed between these two figures, without regard for their obvious narrative coherence. Across the lower register is an elaborate scene of dancing, singing, and musical performance. From the left, a man carrying a staff over his shoulder is preceded by two females clapping cymbals. This group faces a woman playing a bull lyre. Beneath the instrument, two small figures dace; their diminutive size had been interpreted either as a portrayal of dwarfs or as an attempt to show the figures in front of the musical instrument. Facing the performers is a group of three additional female figures with cymbals.
This object is on display
| Object Number: | B17694A |
| Place Name: | Iraq, Ur |
| Credit Line: | British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1928 |
Description
Plaque from the Great Lyre. CBS Register: Bull's gold head, and shell inlay plaques. Harp of the king. Reconstructed. PG 789 (A is the Plaque, B is the Head) Shell inlayed plaque found just beneath the gold bull's head in grave 789 of the Royal Cemetery at Ur. This plaque was also affixed to the original wooden lyre and its imagery appears to depict the sequence of decent into the underworld. The upper register displays the hero struggling with mythical beasts; below this, animals serve a funerary feast while in the next register other animals play music (notably, one plays a bull-headed lyre). Finally, there is a depiction of the scorpion man who is thought to guard the underworld itself.
This object is on display
| Object Number: | 30-33-130 |
| Place Name: | Russia, Maikop, Kuban |
| Culture: | Greek |
| Credit Line: | Purchased from the Anderson Galleries (Canessa Estate Sale), subscription of William Hinckle Smith, 1930 |
Description
One handle missing, otherwise complete, mended from three pieces. Unglazed: resting surface, groove around outer ege of the foot; broad handle zone. In handle zone A&B, two women seated, facing right, playing the lyre. On either side of the handles a large vertical palmette.
This object is on display
| Object Number: | 30-12-253 |
| Place Name: | Iraq, Ur |
| Credit Line: | British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1930 |
Description
CBS Register: silver harp, boat shaped, decorated with silver stag in round, amid copper plants. Woolley field notes: "Harp of silver throughout [;] the body is boat-shaped and the front upright is supported by a silver statue of a stag 070 high, its forefeet resting in the crook of a long-stemmed arrow-leafed plant which rises up on each side of the head (this is copper). 3 samples found in Sam Nash's cabinets and dessicators.
This object is on display
| Object Number: | L-29-301 |
| Place Name: | Iraq |
| Culture: | Babylonian |
Description
Boy with pipe