medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
The sculpture that I have seen that has been worn down by touching tends
to have protrusions worn off, rather than flat places made concave. (The
effigy of Marie Antoinette at Saint-Denis, for example, has dramatically
smoothed breasts [presumably not paraliturgical!].) As for the multiple
concavities all over Gudea in different places, I had thought of them as
the result of many different people using the stone, probably over
centuries, as its position shifted in the ground. Whenever one concavity
got inconveniently deep, someone might have started grinding in a
different place. The feet could have been inaccessible, or simply too
deeply cut to be convenient. Your idea is interesting, though. I shall
have to be on the look-out for other ground down examples.
Best,
Genevra
On 12/17/2010 1:15 PM, Dr Jim Bugslag wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Thanks Genevra and Christopher, But...
> I seem to recall reading about a different broken image of Gudea
> having been worn smooth, presumably by numerous hands touching it. In
> other words, a paraliturgical ritual. It strikes me that a similar
> explanation concerning this work is just as likely (if not more) as a
> suggestion that the concavities were the result of grinding grain. In
> fact, given their odd and awkward conjunction, a grain grinder would
> have had to have been fairly acrobatic to create all of those
> concavities. And wouldn't one have done the trick? Also, the rock
> with the concavities enshrines Gudea's feet, somewhat like a reliquary.
> Cheers,
> Jim
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