Glenda Harris
Decorative Plaque Cow Nursing Its Calf 1968.48_web
This small (1 13/16 x 4 7/8 in.) ivory plaque, made during the 9th to 8th Century BCE was discovered by Agatha Christie’s husband, the archeologist Sir Max Mallowan, in Nimnrud (present day Iraq) in a well near the storerooms of a military arsenal built by King Shalmaneser II, according to the Cleveland Museum of Art Website. It’s a tender depiction of a calf nursing while its mother turns her head 180 degrees to nuzzle it. Although the plaque was made in Phoenicia, it has the motif of a cow nursing its young, echoing the Egyptian goddess Hathor who nourished the Egyptian king Thoth with her milk, according to Gardner’s Art Through the Ages. The cow and calf’s bodies are elongated, creating a circular composition that allows the viewer to clearly see the cow’s face and horns in a combined profile/frontal view with decorative grooves, and the calf’s face partially exposed as it drinks.
It was purchased from the J. H. Wade Fund, is in the public domain, and can be found in the Ancient Near East Galleries in Room 102A.
www.clevelandart.org/art/1968.48
Decorative Plaque Cow Nursing Its Calf 1968.48_web
This small (1 13/16 x 4 7/8 in.) ivory plaque, made during the 9th to 8th Century BCE was discovered by Agatha Christie’s husband, the archeologist Sir Max Mallowan, in Nimnrud (present day Iraq) in a well near the storerooms of a military arsenal built by King Shalmaneser II, according to the Cleveland Museum of Art Website. It’s a tender depiction of a calf nursing while its mother turns her head 180 degrees to nuzzle it. Although the plaque was made in Phoenicia, it has the motif of a cow nursing its young, echoing the Egyptian goddess Hathor who nourished the Egyptian king Thoth with her milk, according to Gardner’s Art Through the Ages. The cow and calf’s bodies are elongated, creating a circular composition that allows the viewer to clearly see the cow’s face and horns in a combined profile/frontal view with decorative grooves, and the calf’s face partially exposed as it drinks.
It was purchased from the J. H. Wade Fund, is in the public domain, and can be found in the Ancient Near East Galleries in Room 102A.
www.clevelandart.org/art/1968.48