Rectangular female fertility plaque

On display

Title

Rectangular female fertility plaque
Associated place

Tell Atchana (AT39, 240, private house, K-14, level III) (place of excavation)
Date

1380 BC - 1250 BC
Middle Bronze Age (Syria) (2000 - 1600 BC)
Material and technique

terracotta, mould-made or stamped
Object type

plaque
Dimensions

1.4 cm (depth)
3.4 cm (width)
6.8 cm (height)
No. of items

1
Credit line

Allocated by the Trustees of the British Museum, 1948.
Museum location

Ground floor | Gallery 19 | Ancient Near East
Museum department

Antiquities
Accession no.

AN1948.486

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Catalogue text

Mouldmade or stamped design in relief; baked; greenish-buff fabric; nude female standing on the head of a horned animal. She is framed in an oval by the horns, which are depicted with "feathered" edges. They join at the top below a winged disk; her legs are together with the pubic triangle incised; her arms are held out with elbows bent, hands up, each grasping the flanking horns; a bird is precariously perched on the horn on either side just above her hands. She also appears to hold back her garments to reveal her sex; she has a necklace with pendant; the face details are shown and she has a tiered conical headdress ("Hittite" crown).

In: Moorey, P. R. S., Ancient Near Eastern Terracottas (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2005)

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