Within the passage discussing the Warka Vase, we read the vase has a representation or series
of offered gifts to honor Inanna. This shows the reader, Inanna is a figure worthy of adoration.
She is identifiable by not only her large horned cap or helmet but by her size comparatively to
the adoring people surrounding her. Along with the priest king present in the same vase, their
size indicates their important roles or societal presence. This is considered the technique of
hierarchical scale. Within the second vase, The Three Revelers, we see non-overlapping
bodies, all mostly the same scale and shape. This is not a coincidence, as our book points out
these three men are all their own independent figure drawing. In turn, I believe there is no
hierarchy of scale present in this second vase. Exploring the figures present in the Warka Vase,
we see it’s a relief carving, with people and animals traveling from the left side of the register to
the right side in a similar fashion, meaning they are all presented in a composite view. When we
look at our figures present in the Three Revelers vase, we see the artist gave way to work
outside the standard front facing views. The book goes on to say the artist painted the subject’s
torsos in an almost three dimensional viewing capability. They are drawn in three-quarter view
with many of their parts closer to the audience, while other parts of their body are farther. This is
different from our Warka Vase which can be described as almost more simple two-dimensional
art. I think it’s important to mention the focus of the figures in the Warka Vase and how they
seem to be a pattern of similarly drawn humans and two important figures, while The Three
Revelers are a group of tipsy random men who are all drawn and painted to draw focus to all
three.
Moving on towards the addition of the Warka Vase registers we see three distinct sections,
separated by a dense or long, empty bar, twice. In the case of the Three Revelers, we see one
line or one register of action and subject matter, with the top half painted with a floral pattern,
and the bottom covered in silhouetted repeating shapes. Finally, we draw our eyes to the
ground line in both creations. The Warka Vase Has a obvious ground line for its first two
registers, and for its final bottom register, we have animals walking across their own ground line,
maybe representing them in the background and plants in the foreground with their own ground
line. The Three Revelers have an extraordinarily simple flat ground where our three wine
drinkers all move along and stand on.
In addition to our first two vases we now can speak on the Red-figure Dinos Bowl and the Black
Obelisk. The Red-figure Dinos Bowl is another painted art piece with silhouetted warriors
fighting from the left and from the right. The Black Obelisk is a dark textured rock with a relief
story carved into the center top-half. It seems the Dinos Bowl has no traditional hierarchical
scale unless you pay attention to the size of horses compared to men. Perhaps this is a way of
implying the warriors are more important than the animals. From first glance, I don’t believe I
see any form of hierarchical scale in the Black Obelisk, it’s many of the same sized people left
to right. The figures in our Dinos Bowl seem to all be proud, strong detailed warriors while the
Obelisk is carved showing maybe trading, life and a piece of that society’s day or life. Similar to
the Three Revelers Vase, the Dinos Bowl has only one register. On the opposite end, our
second relief carving, the Black Obelisk, has multiple registers like our Warka Vase, five to be
accurate. Finally, the ground line in the Dinos Bowl and the Black Obelisk is obvious and
stationary like our first two art examples. Every character is fixed to the floor and not free
floating. All four pieces here seem to have an accurate sense of gravity and reality.
It’s extremely interesting that the Three Reveler’s and the Red Bowl are very similar in art style,
but not in story or figure tone. While the Warka Vase and the Black Obelisk are both stone relief
carvings, one shows off an important obvious deity or priestess, and the other seems to be a
rather simple layered scene. All of these are very similar and very different.