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This striking bust is a commemorative
piece
from the ancient kingdom of Saba which
ruled
over the lands of southwestern Arabia,
centered
in modern day Yemen. Technically, the
Sabeans
were one of four major powers in this
area, also
including the Minaeans, the Qatabanians
and the
Hadramites, but the peoples as a whole
became
subsumed as a single entity by the
middle of the
first millennium BC. Saba is perhaps
better
known as Sheba, whose famous Queen was
recounted as having visited Solomon in
the
pages of the Old Testament. The wealth
of the
kingdom is legendary, and is primarily
attributable to Saba’s position at the
crossroads
of the ancient world, receiving
consignments
(particularly of incense) from all
across the
Middle East, Asia and the Mediterranean
basin.
The city of Marib was also in an ideal
position to
control the trade route between India
and Egypt,
although this lucrative venture was cut
short in
the 1st century AD following the
foundation of a
nautical route from India directly to
the port of
Alexandria.
As well as being a highly successful
nation state
in their own right, the Sabeans embraced
the
multiplicity of cultural influences that
came with
their status as a trading superpower.
Their
alphabet – Musnad – was one of the most
complex and elegant of the day, while
they also
had a second, cursive system (Zabur)
that was
used for day-to-day operations. They
mummified their dead, had a pantheon of
gods,
and possessed liberal attitudes to the
deities and
traditions of outsiders. They also had a
complex
social stratification system, extensive
public
buildings and ceremonial architecture,
and a
literary/theatrical heritage that
survives in
fragmented state. It is for their art,
however, that
the Sabeans are best remembered. Their
religion
and mythology fuelled the themes of
their
sculptural works – primarily
anthropomorphic
and zoomorphic statuary – while their
contact
with other cultures and nations led to a
highly
derived and distinctive style. There are
major
works in bronze, precious metals, exotic
minerals and soft stone such as
alabaster.
This magnificent hollow-cast bronze bust
of a
young man is but one example of the
luxurious
nature of Sabean art. The piece depicts
the youth
with a rather long face, high cheekbones
and
what was presumably fashionable apparel.
He
has large eyes with raised rims and
traces of
inlay around protruding pupils. His
straight nose
and brows are shaped into a “T”
formation,
above finely-chiselled protruding lips
and a chin
that curves gently into the neck
profile. He
appears to be wearing a sleeveless
garment,
judging from the straps passing over the
shoulders, but it may in fact be a suit
of armour
as the frontal aspect is angular and
appears to
be reinforced (and decorated with small
punch-
marks). He wears two or three neck
rings, and
his fashionably coiffed hair is
surmounted with a
helmet-like piece of headwear with
incised grape
decoration. The naturalistic rendering
of the
features betrays a Classical influence
that was
present all across Western and Central
Asia at
that time. The expense involved in
producing
such a piece indicates that the sitter
was a
person of substance, and was just as
socially
important as this piece is beautiful.
- (X.0027 (LSO))
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