30 Millennia of Sculpture. Patrick Bade
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distinction is anachronistic here, we are already differentiating between decorative art (beautification of functional objects such as weapons or tools) and fine art (creation of beautiful objects in themselves, without use). The settling of man, and the discovery and mastery of new materials, such as iron and bronze, enabled growth and development.
2. Anonymous, Female Character, around 3500 BCE. Neolithic, Cernavoda (Romania). Clay, height: 11.5 cm. Muzeul Municipal Bucureti, Bucharest.
3. Anonymous, The Lion Man, around 32,000 BCE. Palaeolithic, Cave Hohlenstein Stadel (Germany). Mammoth ivory, height: 28 cm. Ulmer Museum, Ulm (Germany).
4. Anonymous, The Venus Galgenberg, around 30,000 BCE. Palaeolithic, Site of Lower Austria. Serpentine green, height: 7.2 cm. Weinstadtmuseum, Krems.
5. Anonymous, Horse, around 30,000 BCE. Palaeolithic, Cave Vogelherd (Germany). Mammoth ivory, height: 5 cm. Institut für Urgeschichte, Tübingen.
6. Anonymous, Venus in Clay, around 29,000–25,000 BCE. Palaeolithic, Dolní Vistonics (Czech Republic). Clay, 11.1 × 4.3 cm. Private collection.
7. Anonymous, Rhombic Body of a Woman, around 26,000–18,000 BCE. Palaeolithic. Green steatite. Private collection.
8. Anonymous, The Venus of Monpazier, c. 23,000–20,000 BCE. Palaeolithic. Steatite, height: 5.5 cm. Musée d’Archéologie nationale, château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
9. Anonymous, Phallus, site of the Devil’s Furnace, Bourdeilles (France), around 17,000 BCE. Palaeolithic. Reindeer antler, height: 8 cm. Musée national de préhistoire, les Eyzies-de-Tayac.
10. Anonymous, Two Ibex Facing Each Other, around 16,000 BCE. Palaeolithic, The Cave of the Trois-Frères, Enlène (France). Reindeer antler, 9 x× 7 cm. Musée de l’Homme, Paris.
11. Anonymous, Fragment of Goat Carved in Bone, around 15,000 BCE. Palaeolithic, Cave Saint-Michel, Arudy (France). Bone, height: 4 cm. Musée d’Archéologie nationale, château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
12. Anonymous, The Venus of Brassempouy or The Lady with the Hood, c. 21,000 BCE. Palaeolithic, Cave of the Pope, Brassempouy (France). Mammoth ivory, height: 3.65 cm. Musée d’Archéologie nationale, château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
Discovered by Edward J. Piette at the end of the 19th century in the cave of the Pope, in France, this fragment of a miniature, almost contemporary with the Venus of Willendorf (fig. 1), is an atypical example of a Palaeolithic Venus. Indeed, the fineness of the representation and the delicacy of the features are not indicative of Palaeolithic buxom goddesses of fertility, and betray the contrary, the frail constitution of the model. Similarly, the relief of the face, triangular and regular, the nose and the eyes, including the right one with an inlaid eye, despite the absence of mouth, is one of the oldest and rarest ‘realistic’ performances of human effigies, whereas the faces of the traditional Venuses were only briefly sketched. However, research has shown that the shape and proportions of the head do not correspond to known populations at that time. According to some prehistorians, it is likely that prehistoric artists, who were able to show such realism in representations of animals, have deliberately distorted the human traits, perhaps to protect themselves from magical powers. The grid of the head, formed by perpendicular incisions, can evoke a wig or braids, or even a hood, which gave the work its name.
13. Anonymous, Human Statuette around 10,000 BCE. Palaeolithic. Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
14. Anonymous, Bison carved in low relief, around 16,000 BCE. Palaeolithic, Shelter of the Devil’s Furnace, Bourdeilles (France). Limestone, length: 30 cm. Musée national de préhistoire, les Eyzies-de-Tayac.
15. Anonymous, The Bison Licking Itself, Cave of La Madeleine (France), around 13,000 BCE. Palaeolithic. Reindeer antler, length: 10.5 cm. Musée d’Archéologie nationale, château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
16. Anonymous, The Neighing Horse, 13,000 BCE. Palaeolithic. Reindeer antler, length: 5.6 cm. Musée d’Archéologie nationale, château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
17. Anonymous, Tomb in Porto Ferro, called The White Goddess, around 9000–8000 BCE. Neolithic. Marble. Private collection, Alghero.
18. Anonymous, Human Effigy, around 6750–6250 BCE. Neolithic, Ain Ghazal (Jordan). Whitewashed clay, height: 84 cm. Department of Antiquities, Amman.
19. Anonymous, Mesolithic Sculpture, around 6000 BCE. Neolithic, Lepenski Vir (Serbia). Sandstone, 16 × 23 cm. Narodni Muzej, Belgrade.
20. Anonymous, The Mermaid, 4500 BCE. Neolithic, Lepenski Vir (Serbia), AD Galet Danube. Height: 40 cm. Narodni Muzej, Belgrade.
21. Anonymous, Two-Headed Statue, around 6000–5000 BCE. Neolithic, Çatalhöyük (Turkey). Private collection.
22. Anonymous, Kourotrophos, Woman Nursing a Child, 3500–3000 BCE. Neolithic, Sesklo (Greece). Clay, 1.65 × 0.65 cm. National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Athens.
23. Anonymous, Carved pebble, around 2000–1000 BCE. Bronze Age. Private collection.
24. Anonymous, Figurine of a Bird of Prey (?), around 2000–1000 BCE. Bronze Age. Stone. Private collection.
25. Anonymous, Figurine of a Bird of Prey (?), around 2000–1000 BCE. Bronze Age. Stone. Private collection.
26. Anonymous, Bird (?), around 2000–1000 BCE. Bronze Age. Pebble. Private collection.
Antiquity
27. Anonymous, The Gold Mask of Tutankhamun, Dynasty XVIII (1570–1320 BCE). Ancient Egyptian, Tutankhamun’s tomb, Valley of the Kings (Egypt). Lapis lazuli, quartz, gold, obsidian, amazonite and coloured glass, 39 × 54 cm. Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, Cairo.
Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter, the most famous Egyptologist in the world. Buried during the construction of the tomb of Ramses VI, devoted to the heir of the Amarna period, removed from the royal lists for heresy, Tutankhamun’s tomb was preserved from looting over the millennia. A pharaoh of uncertain ancestry, he died under mysterious circumstances when he was only twenty years old. Tutankhamun, born Tutankhaton, is particularly known for having restored the official religion of the worship of Amun, abolished some years before by the equally famous