Page 130 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Paris

128  P ARIS AREA B Y AREA

Near Eastern, Egyptian, couples. The earliest
Greek, Etruscan and sculpture dates from
Roman Antiquities 2500 BC, the latest
from 1400 BC.
The range of antiquities in the From the New
Louvre is impressive. There are Kingdom (1555–
objects from the Neolithic 1080 BC), a special
period (about 6000 BC) to the crypt dedicated to
fall of the Roman Empire. the god Osiris
Important works of Mesopota­ contains some
mian art include the seated colossal sarcophagi,
figure of Ebih­iI, from 2400 BC, and a large number
and several portraits of Gudea, of mummified
Prince of Lagash, from about animals.
2255 BC. A black basalt block Some smaller
bearing the code of the Baby­ objects of
lonian King Hammurabi, from considerable charm
about 1700 BC, is one of the include a 29­cm
world’s oldest legal documents. (11­inch) headless
The warlike Assyrians body of a woman,
are represented by delicate sensually outlined
carvings and a spectacular by the transparent
reconstruction of part of Sargon veil of her dress Winged Bull with Human Head from 8th century BC,
II’s (722–705 BC) and thought found in Khorsabad, Assyria
palace with its huge, to be Queen
winged bulls. A fine Nefertiti (about century BC), there are several
example of Persian 1365–1349 BC). fine male torsos and heads such
art is the enamelled The department of Greek, as the Laborde Head. This head
brickwork depicting Roman and Etruscan antiquities has been identified as part of
the king of Persia’s contains a vast array of the sculpture that once
personal guard of fragments, among them some decorated the west pediment of
archers (5th century exceptional pieces. There is a the Parthenon in Athens.
BC). It decorated his large, geometric head from the The two most famous Greek
palace at Susa. Cyclades (2700 BC) and an statues in the Louvre, the
Most Egyptian elegant, swan­necked bowl, Winged Victory of Samothrace
art was made for quite modern in its and the Venus de Milo (see p125),
the dead, who unadorned simplicity. It belong to the Hellenistic period
were provided is hammered out of a (late 3rd to 2nd century BC),
with the things single gold sheet and when more natural­looking
that they dates from about human forms were beginning
needed for 2500 BC. The to be produced.
the after­life. Archaic Greek The undisputed star of the
It often included period, from the Etruscan collection is the
vivid images 7th to the 5th century terracotta Sarcophagus of the
of daily life in BC, is represented by the
ancient Egypt. Winged Victory of Auxerre Goddess, one of
One example is Samothrace (Greece, late the earliest­known
the tiny funeral 3rd–early 2nd century BC) pieces of Greek
chapel built for a sculpture, and the Hera
high official in about 2500 BC. of Samos from the Ionian
It is covered with exquisite Islands. From the height
carvings: men in sailing ships, of the Classical Greek
catching fish, tending cattle period (about the 5th
and fowl.
It is also possible to gain
insights into family life in
ancient Egypt through a
number of life­like funeral
portraits, like the squatting
scribe, and several
sculptures of married
Etruscan sarcophagus
(6th century BC)

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