Iberian Peninsula to the indus

particularly fine green-yellow alabaster 
with rust coloured veins. The example 
in Baghdad is slightly smaller (27.5 
cm). However, the workmanship of the 
sex, nose and mouth, the similarity 
of the three-tiered belt, the way the 
stone is carved to reveal veining across 
the shoulders, the polish and general 
appearance suggest they are not only 
from the same major workshop, but in 
all likelihood by the same hand.
These bull-men are related to a group 
of copper statues of nude males 
functioning as stands. The vertical 
hole in the head of the present statue 
suggests that it served as a cultic 
object, perhaps also as a stand. With 
clasped hands in a dedicatory gesture, 
this figure is undoubtedly a temple 
furnishing. The kennelling figure 
holding a vessel on its head from 
Shara temple at Tell Agrab belongs to 
the same tradition. 
O.G.
†
1
For the discovery of the figure at Umma 
(present-day Jokha) with its companion 
piece around 1930 and a complete history, 
see Ortiz 1996.
2
The author of this entry adopted the earlier 
attribution by Donald P. Hansen, reviewing 
his later dating for this and the companion 
piece in Baghdad, see Ortiz 1996.
3
Information relayed by Donald P. Hansen.
4
Cooper 1986, pp. 91–92.
5
This figure and its pendant were a 
chance find and found together. This 
example entered a private collection and 
its companion piece, the Iraq museum in 
Baghdad. Confusion as to the ownership 
and location of these figures has led to 
erroneous information being given in 
scholarly publications, see Ortiz 1996.

---

213
212
68
face of coMpoSite Statue
Southern Mesopotamia, Sumer
Early Dynastic II period (ca. 2500 BC)
Gypsum alabaster, lapis lazuli, bitumen 
and shell (eyes), H. 10.9 cm, W. 8 cm
Private Collection, Paris
The side of the face is hacked for 
insertion into another material and a 
hole drilled on top for a peg would 
have secured the attachment to the 
hair piece: Sumerian statues were 
often made in several parts, with 
different pieces of stone assembled 
together. The technique was 
developed early in Mesopotamia, 
perhaps because stone was rare. 
Furthermore, it allowed for a great 
vividness in the combination of 
different colours of stone. Eyes and 
eyebrows were thus often inserted; 
here, the pupil and brow in dark 
blue lapis lazuli set in black bitumen 
contrast with the marine shell of the 
iris. Gypsum alabaster is common 
in the Syro-Mesopotamian steppe, 
and there are sources of bitumen, 
a hydrocarbon used as glue and 
waterpr
oofing, in Babylonia. But lapis 
lazuli is found only in Afghanistan and 
is good evidence of the network of 
trade established by the Sumerians.
The intense gaze, high cheekbones, 
smiling mouth and fleshy chin bring 
to life this worshipper, who entrusted 
a statue made to his (or hers? it is 
impossible to establish) image, so that 
the image would stand and pray in 
front of the gods.
C.A.
Reference:
 
Aruz, Wallenfels 2003, no. 105 
from Mari.
69
face of coMpoSite Statue
Southern Mesopotamia, Sumer
Early Dynastic II period (ca. 2500 BC)
Black stone (bitumen? diorite?), 
limestone or shell, H. 12 cm
Private Collection, Paris
As in the previous piece, the contour 
of this face is hacked for insertion in 
another material, the body and a hair 
piece. Of the incrusted eyes there 
remains the iris carved in marine 
shell; a cupula for the pupil is now 
missing. The eyebrows typically meet 
above the nose. Rings under the eyes 
give them a tired appearance and 
the mouth is serious, a concerned 
and worried individual who turns to 
his (or her?) gods for comfort. The 
black stone chosen for this image is 
probably diorite, an exotic hard stone 
which had to be imported from the 
Oman peninsula. It became the royal 
stone par excellence of the dynasts 
of Akkad who took power around 
2330 BC and of Gudea, ruler of 
Lagash (2150–2100 BC). But a number 
of votive statues in this material 
appeared in the Early Dynastic period, 
for instance in Ur and Tello.
C.A.
References:
 
Heimpel 1982; Yule, Guba 2001.
70
MoSaic inlay of Seated Man 
Holding a cup
Mesopotamia, Sumer
Early Dynastic II period
(ca. 2500 BC)
Shell (or calcite), lapis lazuli,
H. 8.5 cm, W. 6 cm
Private Collection, Paris
A shell (or calcite?) inlay plaque, 
for insertion in a mosaic panel. The 
figure is dressed in a skirt of woollen 
fleece, the 
kaunakes
, which was the 
ceremonial costume of ancient Sumer 
in the third millennium. His physique, 
round head, short neck and pot belly is 
characteristic of the Sumerian humour 
aesthetic.
The mosaic technique of assembling 
cut-out figures in shell or limestone 
on a background of coloured stone 
was typical of Sumerian culture for 
the decoration of chests, sounding 
board of lyres, board games and 
pieces of furniture, like the famous 
Standard of Ur (British Museum). 
The artists played with materials of 
different colours and stones, marine 
shells from the Persian Gulf and Indian 
Ocean; lapis lazuli from Afghanistan; 
carnelian from India. Ur, a major city 
state in the south of Mesopotamia, 
had easy access to marine shells from 
the Gulf and the Indian Ocean. Marine 
shells circulated inland, as far away as 
Mari on the Euphrates, where mosaic 
panels in Sumerian style have been 
found in palatial and temple contexts. 
In the mosaics from Palace A at Kish, 
Babylonia, limestone silhouettes are 
inserted in plaques of slate. At Ebla, in 
Northern Syria, mosaic panels were cut 
out using local gypsum alabaster.
The cup this figure is holding in his 
hands identifies him as taking part in 
a banquet, one of the major social 
and religious rituals of the Sumerian 
rulers, who held banquets with the 
accompaniment of music and dance 
to honour their gods. These banquets 
were commemorated on a number 
of media, on cylinder seals, which 
served as personal ornaments and 
administrative tools; on stone reliefs 
which were deposited in sanctuaries; 
and on mosaic panels, as in the present 
case. This inlay is unusual in the fact 
that the guest raises his cup in his two 
hands, his left arm across the torso. The 
cup is also unusual, a fluted open bowl 
instead of the standard conical goblet.
C.A.
References:
 
Aruz, Wallenfels 2003, examples 
from Kish, Ebla, Mari and Ur (no. 52 Standard 
of Ur).

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215
214
71
Head froM a royal 
Statuette
Mesopotamia 
Early Dynastic II–III period
(ca. 2500–2200 BC)
Lapis lazuli, H. 4.6 cm
Private Collection, Paris
Bibliography: 
Moortgat-Correns 1967; 
Spycket 1981, p. 89, fig. 32.
A male head, the eyebrows meeting 
over the nose, the eyes modelled 
and bordered by thick well modelled 
lids, soft cheeks and small mouth with 
joined, slightly smiling lips. The nose, 
the tip now missing, was small. The 
hair is finely striated and wavy, leaving 
the ears free. A row of short hooked 
curls lines the forehead and the nape. 
A diadem of plaited hair encircles 
the head and holds a chignon on the 
nape. Two parallel holes are drilled 
transversally to the chignon and were 
probably originally meant to secure a 
metal attachment around it. The beard 
covers most of the cheeks in long 
wavy locks which manage vertical rows 
of small circular hollows between the 
curls: this delicately decorative effect 
may be observed, for instance, on the 
statue of Ebih-Il from Mari (2500–2300 
BC, Louvre).
The diadem of plaited hair is very 
specific, known from a small number of 
objects, all of royal identity: the gold 
helmet of King Meskalamdug from the 
royal cemetery of Ur (Iraq Museum, 
Baghdad), the alabaster statue of Ishki 
Mari (whose name was previously read 
as Lamgi Mari), ruler of the city-state 
of Mari (Aleppo museum), dated ca. 
2500–2300 BC; a magnificent and 
monumental copper alloy head from 
Nineveh, dated ca. 2300 BC (Iraq 
Museum, Baghdad). There is little 
doubt that this exquisite head was