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Phoenician art refers to art produced by the Phoenician civilisation from its origins in the 3rd millennium BC until its decline in the 1st century BC.

The Phoenicians were the neighbours and commercial agents, the pupils and imitators, of peoples with long artistic traditions, the Egyptians and Assyrians especially; and they made full use of such examples and imitated the figures of men and animals produced by their neighbours: they made bas-reliefs, statues and statuettes of every size and substance; everything that would sell, whether on native or foreign markets. They carved the figures of their gods, and in order to perpetuate the memory of their piety, they figured themselves in adoring attitudes before them. Their navigators trafficked on all the shores of the Mediterranean; Tyre, Sidon, and their colonies set up a trade in the export of idols; and there arose a prolific Phoenician school of sculpture, which must have had a certain influence over the development of plastic art among the Greeks and Italiots.

Materials and processes

Phoenicia had no marble. The land yielded only a calcareous tufa, rather less close and fine in the grain than that of Cyprus. It was usually full of small holes and shells; sculptors did their best to find blocks in which these defects did not occur and sometimes they succeeded in hitting upon one which lent itself fairly well to the chisel; but they seem to have been aware of the shortcomings of their native stone and to have tried to import a better material. Sometimes they made use of the volcanic rocks to be found in the district about Saffita, to the north of Phoenicia. The Louvre possesses some fragments of an anthropoid sarcophagus in brown lava. The Sarepta torso is cut from a greyish pink lava, which must have come from the same region. Finally, they seem to have brought from Egypt blocks of those fine hard stones which are abundant in the Nile valley: as evidenced by the lion in black granite in the Louvre, which seems to have been sculptured in Phoenicia. It was not till the sixth century BC that the Phoenicians began to import marble from Greece; after they had once begun they made frequent use of it.

Bronze figure. Louvre. Height 69.4 cm (8⅔ in)

In view of her close relations with Egypt and Chaldaea, Phoenicia probably understood how to make and utilize bronze very early in her career. Certain bronzes which date from the early days of metallurgy are Phoenician in their origin. A figure found near Tortosa by Peretié and now in the Louvre, is one of these. It represents a beardless warrior standing in an attitude of defence, his head surmounted by a very tall funnel-shaped helmet with two rings behind it to which, as well as to a pair of holes in the ears, an ornament has been fixed. He is clothed in a short tunic gathered into a broad belt about the waist. The eyeballs are now empty. The lance and buckler which he held respectively in his right hand and on his left arm have disappeared. To his feet, which are bare, still hang the sullage pieces; their presence may be taken as evidence of the extreme age of the statuette. In later times, when the use of the file was better understood, they would have been removed after the metal was taken from the mould.

Some bronzes of an execution already more advanced belong still to the ancient period, to the time before Phoenicia began to look elsewhere than to the East for inspiration: an instance being the statuette of a player upon the lyre in Peretié's collection, which has been photographed by Clermont Ganneau. Finally, may be mentioned the metal ornament which represents a bust of Astarte; it is a pastiche upon an Egyptian type, but its execution is extremely skilful; it has been ascribed to the time of the latter Achaemenids or the Ptolemies.

European museums are full of Phoenician bronzes of the Seleucid period; in 1885 Louis de Clercq possessed the richest series yet formed; but according to Perrot and Chipiez "their study belongs rather to the history of Greek sculpture."

Sarcophagi

The Phoenicians do not seem to have used clay to make bricks, but they employed it readily enough for jars and vases of every kind. They even made anthropoid sarcophagi of earthenware and other materials, often moulding them in two very large pieces.

• Ahiram sarcophagus
• Batnoam sarcophagus
• Byblos marble inscription
• Ford Collection sarcophagi
• Hiram's Tomb
• Lady of Cádiz
• Lycian sarcophagus of Sidon
• Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar II
• Tabnit sarcophagus

Terracotta figures

The Phoenicians produced numerous little terracotta figures, in which they represented both themselves and their gods.

These statuettes are modelled from the same clay, whether they come from the north of Phoenicia or the south; it is of a ferruginous nature, and nearer red than yellow in tint. The clay is prepared with such care that it is difficult to distinguish it from the plastic earths employed in other countries, notably in Greece and the islands off the coast of Asia Minor. The older works are slightly redder in colour than the later. They often show glassy spangles and are apt to split. All these figures betray the at least partial use of the mould; and the castings are hollow, showing that the technics of the matter were sufficiently advanced.

Some of these objects are of some complexity, such as the groups representing war and travelling chariots. Parts of these are modelled and mounted by hand, the voids being taken out with a cutting instrument; but the small human figures introduced are squeezed in a mould.

Like Assyria before her and Greece in after times, Phoenicia painted her terra-cottas; the colours, which were brilliant at the moment of discovery, are still visible in many cases. Sometimes the whole figure is covered with a tint like that used by the Egyptians to express a manly complexion, the hair and eyebrows being black. Details of costume are sometimes indicated in pink, green and blue; these colours are generally laid upon a yellowish under-painting.

Egyptian faïence

As Phoenicia took the notion of painted terra-cotta figures from Mesopotamia, so she borrowed from Egypt the secret of another manufacture; she made great numbers of statuettes of the material called Egyptian faïence, a sandy frit covered with a white, blue, or green enamel. It is sometimes difficult to discriminate between Phoenician objects of this kind and those of Egyptian manufacture; but the distinction can generally be made based on careful inspection of certain details, and consideration of provenance. The Phoenicians certainly imported many things from the Nile valley, partly for their own use, partly for re-exportation. But it was more profitable to use or export their own productions; the latter were cheaper, at least by the cost of carriage from Egypt, and they were more roughly made. In such objects of glazed earthenware ascribed to the Phoenicians, the enamel is far less brilliant and solid than on similar things found in Egyptian tombs; it is also thinner, and, according to Perrot and Chipiez, Phoenician statuettes of this glazed faïence have a look of being made to sell; very few are made with thorough care. There is another characteristic by which they can be recognized: their types are nearly always composite. They show elements borrowed from Egypt side by side with those taken from other sources; the hieroglyphs are often nonsense, introduced merely for the sake of ornament. Perrot and Chipiez note, "Like so many other creations of Phoenicia, they bear numerous signs of that eclecticism which took its profit where it found it, of that perpetual combination and adaptation which stood to the Phoenicians in the place of high art, and brought them wealth rather than glory."

Reproduced (right) is a statuette of glazed earthenware, which may be ascribed to Phoenicia based on the mixture of two foreign types in its design. It is a small group, hardly more than four inches high, covered with a blue enamel. It is rather flat, but the modelling is careful both front and back. It was found in Cyprus. It represents the god Bes seated on the shoulders of a woman, who holds him by his two feet. The woman stands upon a small lotus-flower capital. Bes has the same features as in Egypt, but the female beneath him does not belong to the Egyptian pantheon. By her short wide proportions and frank nudity, she belongs rather to the class of female divinities in Babylonia and Susiana.

Ivory carving

Further information: Nimrud ivories

The Phoenicians were fond of carving ivory. The Phoenician tombs of Syria, Cyprus, and Sardinia, have yielded numerous fragments of ivory, and the pieces of an ivory perfume-box were found found in a tomb at Sidon. Reproduced (right) is the small statuette of a woman, without a head, which shows fine detail. The hands support the two breasts, a gesture which is repeated in so many Phoenician and Cypriot figures. As a rule the goddess thus represented is entirely nude, while here she is draped in a robe falling to the ground in symmetrical folds. She wears double sleeves, a tight pair coming down to the wrists, and a wider pair belonging to the outer robe. The two ends of a kind of rope girdle hang down in front. For Perrot and Chipiez, "Few figures show so completely the details of at least one variety of Phoenician costume." The general shape of the statuette is that of a column, or, as the Greeks would call it, a xoanon. Such figures may have given them a model for their first attempts to provide their deities with bodies.

Metal bowls

Main article: Phoenician metal bowls

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Phoenician art was largely centred on ornamental objects, particularly jewellery, pottery, glassware, and reliefs. Large sculptures were rare; figurines were more common. Phoenician goods have been found from Spain and Morocco to Russia and Iraq; much of what is known about Phoenician art is based on excavations outside Phoenicia proper. Phoenician art was highly influenced by many cultures, primarily Egypt, Greece, and Assyria. Greek inspiration was particularly pronounced in pottery, while Egyptian styles were most reflected in ivory work.

Phoenician art also differed from its contemporaries in its continuance of Bronze Age conventions well into the Iron Age, such as terracotta masks. Phoenician artisans were known for their skill with wood, ivory, bronze, and textiles. In the Old Testament, a craftsman from Tyre is commissioned to build and decorate the legendary Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, which "presupposes a well-developed and highly respected craft industry in Phoenicia by the mid-tenth century BC". The Iliad mentions the embroidered robes of Priam's wife, Hecabe, as "the work of Sidonian women" and describes a mixing bowl of chased silver as "a masterpiece of Sidonian craftsmanship." The Assyrians appeared to have valued Phoenician ivory work in particular, collecting vast quantities in their palaces.

Phoenician art appears to have been indelibly tied to Phoenician commercial interests. They have crafted goods to appeal to particular trading partners, distinguishing not only different cultures but even socioeconomic status classes.

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The Phoenicians, merchants and tireless travellers, constituted an important link between the early civilisations. Their arts are studied in the ruins of what were their colonies, such as at Cyprus: in them powerful Assyrian and Egyptian influences can be seen; but very little has been discovered in terms of architecture, art being limited to sculptures and various industries in which the Phoenicians excelled. Their works are collected in the main museums of the world.

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https://www.jstor.org/stable/1357205

https://archive.org/search.php?query=phoenician+art&sin=&and%5B%5D=mediatype%3A%22texts%22

https://archive.org/details/historyartinphn01chipgoog/page/n19/mode/2up

https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q960578

See also

• Douïmès medallion
• Treasure of El Carambolo

Sources

• Cartwright, Mark (21 April 2016). "Phoenician Art". World History Encyclopedia.
• Francisco, Naval, R. P. (1904). Elementos de arqueología y bellas artes para uso de universidades y seminarios. Santo Domingo de la Calzada: José Saenz. p. 135.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Heuzey, Léon (1923). Catalogue des figurines antiques de terre cuite. Figurines orientales et Figurines des îles asiatiques. Paris: Musées Nationaux. p. 51.
• Markoe, Glenn E.; McGovern, Patrick E. (March 1990). "A Nation of Artisans". Archaeology. 43 (2): 31–76.
• Markoe, Glenn E. (August 1990). "The Emergence of Phoenician Art". Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (279): 13–26.
• "Phoenicia | Definition, Location, History, Religion, & Facts". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 18 July 2022. 10 August 2023.
• "The Phoenicians (1500–300 B.C.)". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. October 2004.
• "Furniture plaque carved in high relief with two Egyptianizing figures flanking a volute tree". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ancient Near Eastern Art.

Attribution:

• Perrot, George; Chipiez, Charles (1885). History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies. Vol. 2. Translated by Armstrong, Walter. London: Chapman & Hall, Ltd. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

Category:Phoenician art