Statuette of a female

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Some of the most elaborate representations of females in the art of the ancient Near East are images of divine and cult figures whose association with certain aspects of life made them essential to the welfare of humanity. Fertility, procreation, and the growth of crops and livestock were among the basic concepts identified with female divinities. Representations of nude females in clay, stone, and metal are the simplest and most obvious expression of these concepts, and such figures appear throughout antiquity in many regions.

Ancient Near Eastern Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art cares for approximately 7,000 works ranging in date from the eighth millennium B.C. through the centuries just beyond the emergence of Islam in the seventh century A.D. Objects in the collection were created by people in the area that today comprises Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean coast, Yemen, and Central Asia. From the art of some of the world's first cities to that of great empires, the department's holdings illustrate the beauty and craftsmanship as well as the profound interconnections, cultural and religious diversity, and lasting legacies that characterize the ancient art of this vast region.

Metropolitan Museum of Art