AP Art History Ch. 2 Vocab List: Art of the Ancient Near East

Registers

A device used in systems of spatial definitions.

citadel

A fortress on high ground, meant to protect a city

Torque

A large rigid or stiff neck ring of metal, made either as single piece or from strands twisted together.

stylized

A piece is represented in a non-naturalistic form.

cylinder seal

A small cylindrical stone decorated with incised patterns. When rolled across soft clay or wax, the resulting raised pattern or design served in Mesopotamian and Indus Valley cultures as an identifying signature.

incised

A surface in which a design or an inscription is cut into a hard surface with a sharp instrument.

grid

A system of regularly spaced vertically and horizontally crossed lines that gives regularity to architectural plans as well as art composition.

Alabster

A translucent form of gypsum which is usually white and fine grained; often carved into ornaments.

crenellated

Alternating high and low sections of a wall, giving a notched appearance and creating permanent defensive shields on top of fortified buildings.

stylus

An ancient tool for writing, consisting of a small rod with a pointed end for scratching letters on wax-covered tablets, and a blunt end for removing them.

Column

An architectural element used for support and/or decoration. Consists of a base topped by a decorated capital. Can be freestanding or attached to a background wall.

Cuneiform

An early form of writing with wedge-shaped marks impressed into wet clay with a stylus, primarily used by ancient Mesopotamians.

Inlays

An object or ornament that has been imbedded with different materials within it.

Bases

Any support: masonry supporting a statue or the shaft of a column.

high relief

Forms and figures that stand out from the background to half or more than half of their natural depth.

gold leaf

Paper thin sheets of hammered gold that are used in gilding.

low relief

Slight projection of a form from the background of a flat sculpture.

shafts

The middle portion of a column, between capital and base. It was load bearing function, but is also decorative.

Ground lines

The surface in which figures of a composition are set. The solid baseline that indicates the ground plane of an image on which the figure stands.

Capitals

The top portion of a column in architecture

hieratic scale

The use of size to indicate the importance of a figure (religious or otherwise) in a work of art. Larger = more important.

Votive Figures

Varying in sizing and usually carved in gypsum or limestone. Depicts men and women with gestures of attentiveness. Placed in shrines for the gods.

glazed

When a ceramic is covered, and then fired with a vitreous liquid, making the ceramic waterproof, as well as gives decor.

low wax casting

When molten metal is poured into a mold that has been created by means of a wax model.

Pictographs

a highly stylized and simplified depiction serving as a symbol for a person or object.

cone mosaic

a surface decorated by pressing pieces (usually colored and of conical shape) of stone or baked clay into damp plaster.

Zigurrat

a tall stepped tower of earthen materials, often supporting a shrine

palace complex

a very large and richly furnished house where a royal family and nobles would live in. A group of buildings used for living and governing by a particular ruler, usually located in a fortress or citadel.

Stela

an upright stone slab or column typically bearing a commemorative inscription or relief design, often serving as a gravestone.

Terminals

any element of sculpture or architecture that functions as decorative closure.

filigree

delicate, lacelike metalwork

Fluting

evenly spaced, rounded parallel vertical grooves incised on shafts of columns