Hittite Art
A REPRESENTATION of a bull in silver from recent excavations in Anatolia, and described as the most important work of art of Hittite origin yet discovered, is to be exhibited at the forthcoming Antique Dealers Fair to be held at Grosvenor House, London, W.I. The figure is seven inches high, and is mounted on bronze and inlaid with gold. It is dated tentatively at the third millennium B.C. As an evidence of high artistic culture, it is without parallel among Hittite antiquities. An obvious comparison with Sumerian bulls from Ur is suggested. To this, reference is made by Prof. Ernst Herzfeld, whose authority on Hittite objects is unquestionable. In an interview with a representative of The Times, which appears in the issue of September 16, he discusses the affinities of the Hittite bull with other finds from Anatolia and elsewhere, mentioning in particular the figurines from mounds in south Russia and the Caucasus, of which the best known are in the Hermitage Museum, and a terra-cotta bull (Bos primigenius) from Nihawand in his own collection, which belongs to the Early Bronze Age of the third millennium B.C. Prof. Herzfeld also directs attention to the principle, important in discussion of the qualities and characteristics of art in the ancient East, and of a relevance here, which will be immediately apparent to archaeologists, that down to Achaemenid times verisimilitude in line is frequently sacrificed to an artistic convention in attitude, which assimilates one species to another. This is apparent in this example in the manner in which the legs of a bull are represented in an attitude essentially capriform. It is thus evident that even at the early date to which this bull is assigned, an art, Hittite in all essentials, already conformed to a generalised eastern convention.
Berlin
The following is the Report of Meteorology and Epidemics in Berlin, during the winter months of January and February, 1855. January. Up to the 12th of the month, the weather was just the same as in the latter half of December. The temperature of the air increased remarkably between the 5th and the 9th ; but rain, snow, and a stormy west wind were the prevailing phenomena. The 5th, 7th, and 8 th, were the only days on which a very cloudy sky was unaccompanied by rain and snow. Frost took place in the nights of the 3rd and 10th : but on the 13th it set in permanently, and remained till the end of the month. The temperature of the air in this period diminished much, and varied principally between the 17th and 23rd. The wind was northerly on the 13th, 15th, 16th, and 31st; westerly on the 14th, and from the 26th
Berlin
Prof. Oliver Günther, Ph.D., Präsident der Universität Potsdam und JuryVorsitzender: „Wir waren auch in diesem Jahr von der thematischen Breite und dem offensichtlichen wirtschaftlichen und gesellschaftlichen Potenzial vieler Einreichungen beeindruckt. Gerade hochaktuelle Themen wie Klima, Nachhaltigkeit, aber auch IT-Plattformen haben sich im Kreis der Bewerbungen vielfach widergespiegelt. Von daher ist uns ist die Auswahl nicht leichtgefallen. Wir haben uns auch in diesem Jahr entschieden, einen Sonderpreis zu vergeben, um eine Einreichung mit besonderer gesellschaftlicher Relevanz zu würdigen.“