Warka Vase

The Warka Vase is a carved alabaster stone vessel found in the temple complex of the Sumerian goddess Inanna in the ruins of the ancient city of Uruk, located in the modern Al Muthanna Governorate, in southern Iraq. Like the Narmer Palette from Egypt, it is one of the earliest surviving works of narrative relief sculpture, dated to ca. 3,200–3,000 BC.cite book | first=Fred S. | last=Kleiner | authorlink= | coauthors=Mamiya, Christin J. | year=2006 | title=Gardner's Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective - Volume 1 | edition=12^th Edition | publisher=Thomson Wadsworth | location=Belmont, California, USA | id=ISBN 0-495-00479-0 | pages=20-21]

Discovery

The vase was discovered as a collection of fragments by German Assyriologists in their sixth excavation season at Uruk in 1933/1934. The find was recorded as find number W14873 in the expedition's field book under an entry dated 2 January 1934, which read "Großes Gefäß aus Alabaster, ca. 96 cm hoch mit Flachrelief" ("large container of alabaster, circa 96 cm high with flat-reliefs"). [Ralf B. Wartke, " [http://www.d-a-g.de/warka.html Eine Vermißtenliste (2): Die "Warka-Vase" aus Bagdad] ", "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" 26 April 2003, Nbr 97, page 39.". English translation [http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.d-a-g.de/warka.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522warka%2Bvase%2522%2B%252Bsite:de%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-au here] . (The author is a deputy director of the Berliner Vorderasiatischen Museums).] The vase, which showed signs of being repaired in antiquity, stood 3 feet, ¼ inches (1 m) tall. Other sources cite it as having been a slightly taller 106cm, with an upper diameter of 36cm. [Ralf B. Wartke, " [http://www.d-a-g.de/warka.html Eine Vermißtenliste (2): Die "Warka-Vase" aus Bagdad] ", "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" 26 April 2003, Nbr 97, page 39.". English translation [http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.d-a-g.de/warka.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522warka%2Bvase%2522%2B%252Bsite:de%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-au here] .] [Oriental Institute, Chicago, " [http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/dbfiles/objects/14.htm Lost Treasures from Iraq-Warka Vase] ", website accessed 8 June 2007.] It is named after the modern village of Warka - known as Uruk to the ancient Sumerians. A plaster cast was made of the original and this reproduction stood for many decades in room 5 of the Near-Eastern Museum in Berlin (Berliner Vorderasiatischen Museums), Germany. [Ralf B. Wartke, " [http://www.d-a-g.de/warka.html Eine Vermißtenliste (2): Die "Warka-Vase" aus Bagdad] ", "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" 26 April 2003, Nbr 97, page 39.". English translation [http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.d-a-g.de/warka.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522warka%2Bvase%2522%2B%252Bsite:de%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-au here] .]

Decoration

The vase has three registers - or tiers - of carving. The bottom register depicts the vegetation in the Tigris and Euphrates delta, such as the natural reeds and cultivated grain. Above this vegetation is a procession of animals, such as oxen and sheep presented in a strict profile view. The procession continues in the second register with nude males carrying bowls and jars of sacrificial elements, such as fruit and grain. The top register is a full scene, rather than a continuous pattern. In this register, the procession ends at the temple area. Inanna, one of the chief goddesses of Mesopotamia and later known as Ishtar in the Akkadian pantheon, stands, signified by two bundles of reeds behind her. She is being offered a bowl of fruit and grain by a nude figure. A figure in ceremonial clothing - presumably a chieftain/priest - stands nearby with the procession approaching him from behind.

Theft and restoration

The Warka Vase was one of the thousands of artifacts which were looted from the National Museum of Iraq during the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. In April 2003 [Oriental Institute, Chicago, " [http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/dbfiles/objects/14.htm Lost Treasures from Iraq-Warka Vase] ", website accessed 8 June 2007.] it was forcibly wrenched from the case where it was mounted, snapping at the base (the foot of the vase remaining attached to the base of the smashed display case. [Oriental Institute, Chicago, " [http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/dbfiles/farchakh/farchakh_050.htm Museum Photos: Iraq Museum (Baghdad, 2003)] ", website accessed 8 June 2007.]

The vase was later returned during an amnesty to the Iraq Museum on June 12, 2003 by three unidentified men in their early twenties, driving a red Toyota vehicle. As reported by a correspondent for The Times newspaper,

Soon after the vase's return, broken into 14 pieces, [cite news |first=Simon |last=Jenkins |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2098272,00.html |title=In Iraq's four-year looting frenzy, the allies have become the vandals |publisher=The Guardian |date=8 June 2007 |accessdate=2007-06-08] it was announced that the vase would be restored. [cite news |first=Mark |last=Memmott |url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-06-17-vase-usat_x.htm |title=Iraqi museum to repair broken 5,000-year-old vase |publisher=USA TODAY |date=June 18 2003 |accessdate=2007-01-29] A pair of comparison photographs, released by the Oriental Institute, Chicago, showed significant damage (as of the day of return, 12 June 2003) to the top and bottom of the vessel. [Clemens D. Reichel, " [http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/02-03_Iraq_Museum.pdf Iraq Museum Project] ", in "The Oriental Institute 2002-2003 Annual Report".]

The current condition of the Warka Vase (museum number IM19606) [Oriental Institute, Chicago, " [http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/dbfiles/objects/14.htm Lost Treasures from Iraq-Warka Vase] ", website accessed 8 June 2007.] is not known. In June 2007, The Guardian newsaper reported that widespread looting of antiquities is ongoing in Iraq and that the director of the Iraq Museum, Donny George, fled in August 2006 after receiving death threats. The museum's entrances have been bricked up, the building surrounded by concrete walls, and the museum's staff do not have access. [cite news |first=Simon |last=Jenkins |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2098272,00.html |title=In Iraq's four-year looting frenzy, the allies have become the vandals |publisher=The Guardian |date=8 June 2007 |accessdate=2007-06-08]

References

ee also

*Archaeological looting in Iraq
*Narmer Palette (a comparable contemporary work of narrative relief sculpture from the Ancient Egyptian civilisation).

External links

* [http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/dbfiles/objects/14_2.htm Lost Treasures from Iraq--Objects] (Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago) (pre-2003 b&w photo compared with colour photograph from 12 June 2003)
* [http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/469924 The Warka Vase] (ancientworlds.net)
*Fiona Curruthers, " [http://www.usyd.edu.au/news/84.html?newsstoryid=451 Iraq Museum resembled 'emergency ward'] ", "University of Sydney News", 19 September 2003. (Colour image of pre-war Warka Vase, as well as missing "Lady of Uruk (Warka)" stone head).
* [http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/dbfiles/Iraqdatabasehome.htm The Iraq Museum Database] (hosted by the Oriental Institute, Chicago)