Understanding the Woman in the Window

MUSÉE DU LOUVRE, DIST. RMN-GRAND PALAIS / RAPHAEL CHIPAULT / ART RESOURCE, NY

The image of the “woman in the window” conjures many different connotations, from Juliet’s enchanting exchange with Romeo to prostitutes in Amsterdam’s Red Light District. The ancient world also paired women and windows in iconography and literature. A particularly well-known example appears in Levantine and Near Eastern ivories.¹

Around 80 ivory objects featuring a woman peering from a window have been found at sites across the ancient Near East, including Samaria, Arslan Tash, Khorsabad, and Nimrud. Dating from the ninth and eighth centuries BCE and made from elephant tusks, the carvings are generally quite small (around 4 inches tall and only half an inch thick) and were used as inlays for decorating furniture, to which they were attached through tenons or by glue.

The choice of material implies an elite context. The Assyrians collected ivories through tribute and as spoils of war. In the Hebrew Bible, the prophets reference ivory as a symbol of wealth and in their rebukes of the elite (Amos 3:15; 6:4; Ezekiel 27:6, 15).

Despite stylistic variations among the ivories, the woman in the window motif has a standard recognizable form. The frontal depiction of a female face appears within a triple- or quadruple-inset frame. The woman’s face appears above a horizontal sill situated on a three- to four-columned balustrade adorned with floral capitals. This balustraded window parallels excavated examples of Iron Age monumental architecture, such as at Ramat Rahel. In some ivories, the woman’s face fills the space of the plaques and presses against the borders of the frame as if bulging forth, conveying a sense of power. Other examples produce a more proportionate balance between the use of negative space between the columns and the woman’s head. Additional stylistic variations include the woman’s hairstyle, ears, and type of jewelry, which may all reflect regional differences. Although many ivories appear monochrome, artisans frequently applied color through gilding, glass inlays, powdered pigment, or stains.

But who is this woman in her elaborately carved window, and what does she represent? What was her role in society, and what symbolism does her image evoke? Drawing from Hebrew, Babylonian, and Greek literature, earlier scholars identified the woman as a fertility goddess or cult prostitute. Although such interpretations receive less acceptance today, vestiges that link women, windows, and sex still influence current scholarship. Others envision the woman as the queen mother who represents the goddess Asherah. More recent perspectives focus on the status of the woman as a queen awaiting her lover, husband, or son. All these interpretations fail to take into account the various “woman in the window” stories in the Hebrew Bible.

Most of the women who appear in windows in the Hebrew Bible are elite women connected to powerful men (Sisera’s mother in Judges 5:28; Michal in 1 Samuel 19:12 and 2 Samuel 6:16; and Jezebel in 2 Kings 9:30). The only prostitute to appear at a window is Rahab, who lets Joshua’s men down from the window and ties a scarlet cord to the window to secure her safety (Joshua 2:15, 21). Additionally, Ecclesiastes 12:3 mentions nondescript women who look through the windows and “see dimly,” reflecting the transitory nature of life.

These window scenes include stories of women of varying societal positions, but each woman experiences a shift in status or a transformation. The window functions in the story as a liminal place, that is, a point of transition, reflecting an interplay between life and death, danger and safety. These stories in the Hebrew Bible help elucidate the symbolism of the woman in the window ivories but not through a focus on any one societal role. Instead, the meaning derives from the function of the women and the windows in these stories. I have identified two categories of the woman in the window motif in the Hebrew Bible: the “heroine in the window” and “seeing death” scenes that focus on the woman’s actions.

ISRAEL MUSEUM IN JERUSALEM

In the “heroine in the window” category, the woman intervenes as danger approaches, and the window bridges the threat of death and the pursuit of safety. The heroines represent opposite sides of society—a prostitute, Rahab, and a king’s daughter, Michal. The immediate danger specifically targets the men. The women risk their safety and devise lies to protect the men. Rahab’s window scenes do not reflect a prostitute seeking business, but rather a heroine who protects Joshua’s spies and her family. The window scenes transform Rahab from a potential enemy of Israel destined to be killed into an ally who lives and proclaims victory for Israel’s God (Joshua 2:8–21; 6:22–25). Michal, like Rahab, performs her heroism at a window, where she helps David escape from the harm her father, Saul, intends (1 Samuel 19:11–17). Michal chooses David, as she transitions from the daughter of Saul to the wife of David. Rahab and Michal mediate as guardians to protect the men from the danger that threatens.

The “seeing death” category includes women who view death from the window. Sisera’s mother awaits her son’s return from war. She peers from a window and proclaims his anticipated but ultimately unrealized conquests (Judges 5:24–30), seeing not her son’s triumphant return but likely a messenger bearing news of his death. Jezebel adorns herself as a queen, not as a prostitute or seductress as some suggest (2 Kings 9:30–37). From her window, she taunts Jehu, who challenges her rule. However, even through her taunt, Jezebel sees the end of her reign and her impending death. Michal appears in a second window scene, but her loyalty to David reverts to her father and his legacy. From her window, Michal regards David with disdain (2 Samuel 6:16). The story of Michal foreshadows the death of Saul’s royal line. Michal will not have David’s children or rise to the position of queen mother, and perhaps this episode portends the end of Saul’s reign and his descendants (2 Samuel 6:23; 21:8–9). Finally, Ecclesiastes 12:3 illustrates an interruption in domestic life, and the women function through the window scene as a warning of death and aging. In this subcategory, the women stand as guardians in the window, but they unsuccessfully mediate the threat of death.

The window in these biblical stories serves as a liminal place—the space between life and death, danger and safety. The female figures illustrate their own shifting societal places and the need to guard and protect. Through their liminality, these women mediate the danger posed by the impermanence of life. Likewise, the ivory windows represent transitional places, and the women function as symbols that protect against the dangers that liminality brings. Biblical stories featuring women in the window thus provide an avenue for understanding the symbolism behind the ivory inlays of the ninth and eighth centuries BCE.

The image of the “woman in the window” conjures many different connotations, from Juliet’s enchanting exchange with Romeo to prostitutes in Amsterdam’s Red Light District. The ancient world also paired women and windows in iconography and literature. A particularly well-known example appears in Levantine and Near Eastern ivories.1 Around 80 ivory objects featuring a woman peering from a window have been found at sites across the ancient Near East, including Samaria, Arslan Tash, Khorsabad, and Nimrud. Dating from the ninth and eighth centuries BCE and made from elephant tusks, the carvings are generally quite small (around 4 inches tall and […]