Bust of a crown woman, possibly the goddess ʾAtraʿtā (Atargatis). This bust was set into a spandrel between the arches of a tower on the principal façade of the castle called Qaṣr al-Ḥayr al-Ġarbī. She holds a braid in her right hand and a bird, perhaps a dove, in her left. The pose is reminiscent of that given to the figures on the funeral stelae of Palmyra, a nearby city that the caliphs would have known of.
Substance: sculpted stucco.
Dimensions: 41 x 28 cm.
Provenance: Qaṣr al-Ḥayr al-Ġarbī
Text: Michel Fortin (p. 123).
Translation: Jane Macaulay.
Photo credit: Jacques Lessard.
Collection of the National Museum of Damascus.
Michel Fortin, Syria, Land of Civilization. Les Éditions de l'Homme, Musée de la Civilisation de Québec 1999.
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