The Art Properties Department has loaned three significant works from the Sackler Collection to the exhibition "Breath of Heaven, Breath of Earth: Ancient Near Eastern Art from American Collections," which opened on August 31 at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Willamette University, in Salem, Oregon. The exhibition brings together 64 objects related to the art and culture of the Fertile Crescent from 6000 to 500 BCE.

One of Columbia's pieces on loan is the ivory or bone plaque seen here, depicting a hunter and a lion (S0130). The other two works loaned to the exhibition are a bronze beaker depicting a lion, 7th-6th century BCE Iraq, Neo-Babylonian period (S0145), and an ivory duck-headed spoon handle, 8th-7th century BCE Iran (S0128). These objects join other important works loaned by New York-based institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Brooklyn Museum. The exhibition closes on December 22.

Exhibit website

–Roberto C. Ferrari, Curator of Art Properties

Plaque with a hunter and lion
Iran, ca. 8th-7th century BCE
Ivory or bone
1 7/8 x 2 3/8 x 14 in.  4.8 x 6 x .6 cm
(S0130)
Sackler Collections, Columbia University in the City of New York