Pratt Ivories

None of the items gifted in these donations were scientifically excavated. Rather, they were purchased on the art market for the Pratt's extensive personal art collection.[3] Mr. and Mrs. George D. Pratt subsequently donated the ivory pieces to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in a series of four donations occurring between 1932 and 1937. The fittings were also accompanied by numerous clay sealings, terracotta objects, plates, and figurines.

Ivory falcon and gazelles from Acemhöyük, Turkey. Pratt ivories, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Two of the ivory sphinxes and a plaque featuring a seated lion were given in the first donation in 1932.[4] At the time, the sphinxes were interpreted as "little ivory stool legs" having been made by a Phoenician or Syrian craftsman for the Assyrian market.[5] This assessment was largely based on their resemblance to pieces uncovered in excavations of the Assyrian capital, Nimrud.[6] This comparison suggests a date of manufacture in the early first millennium B.C.

From 1936 to 1937, following the death of her husband, Mrs. Pratt gave numerous other ivory pieces in three successive groups, eventually contributing sixty-six ivory objects, in addition to the three works donated in 1932.[7] While these were immediately recognized as furniture attachments and fittings, scholars continued to debate the origin and date of their production. By 1936, M.S. Dimand, a curator in the Museum, challenged the initial assessment of the works, dating them to the end of the second millennium, around the 13th or 12th century B.C., and assigning their production to an "unknown Aramaean art center in Northern Syria."[8]

Approximately three decades later, excavations at Acemhöyük in Turkey provided a conclusive answer to the question of the ivories' date and origin. Led by Nimet Özgüç, digging at the site began in 1962, revealing two monumental buildings dating to the early second millennium B.C. One of these structures, in the south-eastern region of the mound, was termed the Sarikaya palace. It had originally consisted of around fifty rooms before ultimately being destroyed by a large fire. Excavations of its rooms revealed numerous clay bullae, which had been baked by the conflagration. These sealings could be connected to known historical figures, which helped provide a date for the palace in the late 19th and 18th centuries B.C.[9]

In 1965, excavations revealed other important finds. In room NA-OA/46, located in the western area of the palace, a small group of luxury items were uncovered. This group included several ivory objects.[10] One of these was a wing, which matched those seen on the Pratt falcon. It would come to be understood that one of the wings presented on the falcon was in fact a replica produced by the museum, and that the Acemhöyük wing in fact belonged to the piece.[11] Other items found were stylistically comparable to the Pratt ivories, including an ivory lion and panels bearing rosette and guilloche designs. Clay bullae matching those in the Pratt collection were also uncovered. Furthermore, later investigations by Machteld Mellink uncovered a photograph from an antiquities dealer in Antakya, which showed of two of the Pratt sphinxes. Reportedly these came from Aksaray, a town near Acemhöyük where items looted from the site were often brought to be sold.[12] All of this evidence effectively demonstrated that the assemblage originated at this site,[13] having been removed illicitly for sale on the antiquities market. The date and origin of the pieces are now understood to be 19th-18th century B.C. and of Anatolian production.