Silver Lyre from Ur(The British Museum)

Materials: wood, silver, shell, limestone, lapis lazuli.Place:Excavated/Findspot Royal Cemetery.(Asia,Iraq,South Iraq,Royal Cemetery (Ur))Date:2600BCPeriod/Culture:Early Dynastic III.

Description: Silver lyre; the silver which covers this lyre and its bull's head, and the shell, lapis lazuli and red limestone inlay decoration are ancient, but the frame, the pegs, strings and bridge are modern; the original silver pegs are exhibited separately; the panel on the front of the lyre depicts fallow deer and a tree on a hill, lions attacking a goat, and a lion attacking a gazelle.

Dimensions: Height: 97.5 centimetresLength: 69 centimetresWidth: 5.5 centimetres (body)Length: 103 centimetres (bar)Length: 18 centimetres (pin)Height: 15.5 centimetres (shell decoration)

Acquisition date: 1929

Curator's commentsThis object was originally reconstructed by Woolley in 1936 using paraffin wax. This gave way in July 1949 and the object was removed from display. Steps were begun to conserve and restore the object in 1962 when it was sent to the laboratory on 16 July, and over the course of the following two years Mr R.M. Organ of the Research Laboratory worked on this project, assisted by Mrs Charlotte Podro, then Conservation Officer in the Dept of Western Asiatic Antiquities. The work was then taken over and completed by Marjorie Hutchinson (nee MacGregor) under the supervision of Mr H. Barker and Mr A. Oddy of the Laboratory, and the object returned in May 1968.

After preliminary treatment to remove the paraffin wax, the carbonates and copper salts, the remaining silver chloride was reduced electrolytically to massive silver by a the- new process known as consolidative reduction (the process later published by Organ). Through this process, all shapes and surface details, including the impressions of string, the bridge and the matting on which the object lay in the ground, were preserved. The bridge and tuning pegs were substituted with perspex and the lyre mounted on a frame of the same material which was fashioned by Mr Ian McIntyre of the Research Laboratory. The silver was re-attached using a hard wax of high melting point (Cosmolid 80H) with 25% beeswax. A decision was made to add perspex levers to the

reconstruction rather than incorporate the silver originals which were considered too weak. The reconstruction was also strung with nylon threads to help show its original appearance (Report to Trustees 2 June 1969).

Photographs before and after the latter restoration were published as part of a short note in 'The British Museum Report of the Trustees 1966-1969', pp.42-43, pls IX a-b. See also 'Iraq' vol. 31, plate XI. The photograph taken immediately before restoration does not appear to be in ANE's archives or photographic albums. The negative PS0688467 is copied from the Ur negative U.1341, which is the photograph published by Woolley in UE II pl. 111, and which seems to be the only available photograph of the complete lyre before the 1960s restoration.http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=368337&partid=1&searchText=lyre&fromADBC=ad&toADBC=ad&numpages=10&images=on&orig=%2Fresearch%2Fsearch_the_collection_database.aspx&currentPage=43

Mosaic III century, found in Edessa, now Urfa, Turkey, representing Orpheus domesticating animals, and with an inscription in Syriac. //

Terpsichore: muse of dance. Detail from a Roman mosaic at Trier (Neustrasse), Germany, showing Terpsichore with a lyre. End 2nd- early 3rd century AD. Landesmuseum Trier.

A ceramic bowl from Iran around the year 575... with a music maker

In Afghanistan Rabab (or Kabuli Robab) is a short-necked or long-necked lute originating from Afghanistan. the 10th Century.

Detail of a painting from the Tomb of Neferhotep, Chief scribe of Amun, luxor. 18th dynasty, New Kingdom. This scene shows Meretre, the wife of Neferhotep who was the 'Chief Scribe of Amun', wearing a long, heavy wig. She is standing behind her husband whose shoulder and wig are visible on the picture. She is raising her hand with a Sistrum, one of the symbols of the goddess Hathor.

Bronze arched sistrum with Hathor head decoration

From EgyptLate Period, after 600 BC

Music for the gods

The sistrum was basically a rattle comprising an arch (an inverted U-shaped section) with a handle attached. The arch had a number of cross pieces onto which were threaded metal discs. When the sistrum was shaken, the discs rattled. The top of the handle was often decorated with the head of Hathor, patron of music. The instrument, carried in tomb and temple scenes, indicated devotion to Hathor, and symbolized adoration in general. The similarity between the shape of the sistrum and that of the ankh meant that, like the ankh, it came to represent life.

The sistrum was used in Egyptian festivals and was often played by temple songstresses. Shaking the sistrum probably marked the division of the phrases in adulatory hymns. It was believed that the sound of rattling also drove off malign forces,

preventing them from spoiling the festival.

The sistrum continued to be used in Egypt well after the rule of the pharaohs. By the time of the Greek author Plutarch, around the first or second century AD, the arch of the sistrum had come to symbolise the lunar cycle and the sistrum's bars, the elements. The Hathor heads were interpreted as Isis and Nephthys, who represented life and death respectively. In ceremonies of the Coptic period, priests extended the sistrum to the four cardinal points to indicate the power of god.

R.D. Anderson, Catalogue of Egyptian Antiqu-2 (London, The British Museum Press, 1976)

Length: 38.400 cmWidth: 8.100 cm

EA 36310

Ancient Egypt and Sudan

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aes/b/bronze_arched_sistrum.aspx

Blind harpist playing at a banquet, 1422-1411 BC, wall painting, 25 × 22 cm, tomb of Nakht, Thebes.

Arpista ciego tocando en un banquete, 1422-1411 a.c., pintura mural, 25 × 22 cm, tumba de Nakht, Tebas