Relief fragment with spinner

The relief fragment with spinner is now in the Louvre with the inventory number SB 2834. It was found during excavations by Jacques de Morgan in Susa (in present-day Iran ) and is about 10 cm high and 13 cm wide. It is found in the New Elamite period and thus in the 8th to 7th centuries BC. Dated. The fragment is considered a masterpiece of Elamite art.

The right part of the reproduced scene has broken away, making it impossible to fully understand the content. In the middle of the fragment you can see a woman kneeling on a stool. It is richly decorated and has six bracelets on each arm. Her robe is decorated and her hair is also carefully trimmed. She is shown spinning. Behind her stands a servant who holds a fan in both hands. In front of the spinner there is a table with a fish and round objects that are either bread or fruit. On the far right you can see the remainder of a robe that might belong to a figure that has broken away today.

The interpretation of the scene is difficult. Spinning is considered a typically female activity in many cultures. Perhaps the scene once depicted a married couple and the woman presents her special skills to her husband, making her the mistress of the women's rooms in the house.

The object is made of bitumen . Bitumen was heated to around 250 degrees and then formed a hard, mastic-like mass into which the scenes were scratched. Bitumen objects have so far been documented almost exclusively in Susa and were often referred to as dark or black stone in older research, but more recent studies confirm that it is actually bitumen.

Individual evidence

^ Agnès Benoit: Relief Fragment with Spinner. In: Joan Aruz, Sarah Graff, Yelena Rakic (Eds.): Assyria to Iberia: At the Dawn of the Classical Age. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York / New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-20808-5 , p. 81, no. 23.
^ Daniel T. Potts : The Elamites. In: Touraj Daryaee (ed.): The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2012, ISBN 978-0-19-973215-9 , p. 49.

[1] Agnès Benoit: Relief Fragment with Spinner. In: Joan Aruz, Sarah Graff, Yelena Rakic (Eds.): Assyria to Iberia: At the Dawn of the Classical Age. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York / New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-20808-5 , p. 81, no. 23.

[2] Daniel T. Potts : The Elamites. In: Touraj Daryaee (ed.): The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2012, ISBN 978-0-19-973215-9 , p. 49.