File:Stone Ear of Animal Sculpture (4697630412).jpg

Achaemenid period (ca. 550 - 330 BCE).

The artists in ancient Persia employed a brilliantly practical solution to the challenge of sculpting animals with upright ears.

Why do I call such work challenging? Well, for one thing, it requires a larger block of stone (larger because allowances have to be made for the eventual ears) and the removal of more stone about the figure's head than if the animal's ears were flush with the body.

Second, there's little room for error. Screw up badly enough in carving an ear (e.g., make it too small, situate it in the wrong place, or fail to capture the right look) , and you may find yourself having to start the entire sculpture over again.

Third, assuming you're fortunate enough to sculpt a perfect ear on the head of the animal you're carving, you've just created a relatively long, wide and thin protuberance that's just begging to be broken off or damaged in your studio if someone's careless.

Enter the Mr. Potato Head school of art, wherein appendages are carved separately from the animal's body and fitted with pegs that plug into corresponding holes placed exactly where the sculptor wants the appendages to be. Think of the savings of time and material, to say nothing of the improved accuracy of the finished product.

I wonder, though, what the sculptor used to hold the ears in place? Was it a permanent bond, or was the glue of a type that would allow a damaged ear to be removed and replaced?