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Phoenician metal bowls are approximately 90 decorative bowls made in the 7th–8th centuries BCE from bronze, silver and gold (often in the form of electrum), found since the mid-19th century in the Eastern Mediterranean and Iraq. [1]
What followed in the century and a half after the discovery were numerous attempts, some more interesting than others, to make sense of the iconography on the bowls. By 1988 at the Palazzo Grassi (Venice) exhibition, all metal bowls on display, irrespective of provenance, were labelled “Phoenician”12.
- Nicholas C. Vella
- 2010
- Artistic Influences
- Phoenician Sculpture
- Phoenician Ivories
- Precious Metal Bowls
- Other Minor Arts
- Conclusion
Phoenician art was influenced by that of its neighbours – Egypt, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and the Aegean islands – with whom it had frequent contact through trade. The influence may be best seen in specific materials, for example, Aegean influence is most often seen in Phoenician pottery, Mesopotamian and Ugarit in metal work, and Egyptian in ivory w...
Surviving examples of large-scale Phoenician sculpture in stone are few and far between, probably because any stone worthy of sculpture had to be imported and so the artform was not as popular as in other cultures. One notable piece is the torso from Sarafand (Sarepta) which dates to the 6th century BCE and depicts a male in pleated skirt and belt,...
Phoenician ivory plaques have been found in Mesopotamian cities (especially Nimrud), the Greek islands, and central Italy. Only a very few have been discovered at Phoenician sites but those exported are identified by the incision of Phoenician letters and ended up where they did because the Phoenicians traded them, gave them as tribute (or were war...
Phoenician artists were known in antiquity for their fine metalwork, famously, Achilles presents a beautiful silver crater from Phoenician Sidon as a prize for the funeral games of Patroclus in Homer's Iliad. Another case is Hiram of Tyre who was employed by Solomon to create two huge decorated bronze pillars and a 4.5-metre diameter bronze basin w...
Phoenician cities were great exporters of glassware, so much so that the ancients (incorrectly) attributed its invention to them. The Phoenicians actually learnt the techniques from the Egyptians but were able to improve them to produce fine transparent glass. Despite this, artists seem to have preferred working with opaque coloured glass (which ha...
Phoenician art spread to its colonies throughout the Mediterranean from the 8th century BCE and none more so than at the most successful Phoenician off-shoot: Carthage. Artists there were strongly influenced by and perpetuated Phoenician styles and subject matter up to the 2nd century BCE. Meanwhile, with the rise of Greece from the 5th century BCE...
- Mark Cartwright
This bronze hemispherical bowl is a plain but elegant grave offering accompanying the burial of two women. It was excavated in the North Cemetery of Knossos and is dated to the 10th century BC.
According to ancient classical authors, the Phoenicians were a people who occupied the coast of the Levant (eastern Mediterranean). Their major cities were Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, and Arwad. All were fiercely independent, rival cities and, unlike the neighboring inland states, the Phoenicians represented a confederation of maritime traders rather ...
Aug 21, 2017 · These bowls were made in Phoenicia (modern-day Lebanese and Syrian coasts), and were brought to Nimrud as tribute or booty by one of the kings who campaigned in the west, perhaps Tiglath-pileser III (reigned 744-727 BCE). Neo-Assyrian Period, 800-700 BCE.
Phoenician art, was widely used by the Phoenicians and is often found on metal bowls from Nimrud and Cyprus.16 The division of a zone in metopes is found frequently on a number of metal bowls from Nimrud where each metope con tains an image. The space between the me topes—occupied by triglyphs on the glass bowl—is left empty on the metal ...
