The Eyes Have It

Two figures from the Ancient Near Eastern Art collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The first is an “Eye Idol” found in Tell Brak in Iraq.  The second is a figure found in the site Tell Asmar in Iraq.  Figures of these types were found in huge caches left in temples.  Although they are from very different time periods, (the first dates from 3000-3500 b.c., the second from 2750–2600 b.c.) they both have beautifully attentive, wide eyes, to which they owe their charm that peers out to us from across thousands of years.