The Queen of the Night relief was discovered by archaeologists – it was previously known as The Burney Relief before it was renamed, The Queen of the Night ~ in what appeared to be a personal shrine to The Goddess, in the Fertile crescent of the Middle East in what used to be ancient Mesopotamia , also known later on as Sumer; around the ancient city of Ur.
There has been much that has been written about this sacred representation of a winged, crowned Goddess, standing on the backs of lions, or lionesses, and flanked by very large owls. Herewith my analysis of the relief, or plaque; and rationale for viewing the plaque as a representation of the Great Goddess of Death and Love.
For the proportion she is slender, well shaped, beautiful and nude, with wings and owl-feet.The body of the goddess is so naturalistic it could have been modeled from life, yet the owls are stilted in their stylization. The accentuated femininity of the figure suggests an earthy sexuality, but the rod and ring held above either shoulder are geometric abstractions and symbolic of universal laws.
For the balance the serenity of the face and the symmetry of the posture are dignified in their composure. She stands erect on two reclining lions which are turned away from each other and are flanked by owls. On her head she wears a cap embellished by several pairs of horns. In her hands she holds a ring and rod combination. Evidently this is no longer a lowly she-demon, but a goddess who tames wild beasts and, as shown by the owls on the reliefs, rules by night.
For the material the relief is the nude female figure is realistically sculpted in high-relief. Her eyes beneath distinct, joined eyebrows are hollow, presumably to accept some inlaying material – a feature common in stone, alabaster, and bronze sculptures of the time,but not seen in other Mesopotamian clay sculptures.The relief was then burnished and polished, and further details were incised with a pointed tool. Firing burned out the chaff, leaving characteristic voids and the pitted surface we see now; Curtis and Collon believe the surface would have appeared smoothed by ocher paint in antiquity.
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