1954.34: Head of a Man from a Votive Statuette

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1954.34

Title

Head of a Man from a Votive Statuette

Classification

Sculpture

Work Type

head, sculpture

Date

c. 2600 BCE-2400 BCE

Places

Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Mesopotamia

Period

Early Dynastic III period

Culture

Sumerian

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/291440

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Alabaster

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Purchase through the generosity of an Anonymous Donor and the Alpheus Hyatt Purchasing Fund

Accession Year

1954

Object Number

1954.34

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

Head of a bald and beardless man broken irregularly at neck. Eyes are hollowed out for inlay. Eyebrows are deeply incised and join over nose.

Sculpture was found at Tell Asmar (ancient Eshnunna), a Sumerian city located in the Diyala region of Mesopotamia. Apparently excavated in an Early Dynastic II layer, but it has been suggested that the stratification was confused and the sculpture is more likely from the Early Dynastic III period.

The head is probably from a votive statue similar to those found as part of the sculpture hoard from the Abu-Temple at Tell Asmar. This statue is likely to have performed a similar function to others from the same site. The statues varied in size and shape and were placed in temples, buried under the floor or built into the shrine. The figures, often shown making a gesture of prayer, were intended to represent the worshipper before the god.

Publication History

• George M. A. Hanfmann, "Acquisitions of the Fogg Art Museum: Sculpture and Figurines", American Journal of Archaeology (1954), Vol. 58, No. 3, 223-229, p. 224, pl. 37, figs. 3-4.
• Eva Andrea Braun-Holzinger, Frühdynastische Beterstatuetten, Mann (Berlin, 1977), p. 83.
• David Gordon Mitten and Amy Brauer, Dialogue with Antiquity, The Curatorial Achievement of George M. A. Hanfmann, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1982), p. 16, no. 65.

Exhibition History

• Curator's Choice from the Ancient World, The Newark Museum, 01/30/1968 - 06/15/1968
• The Art of Sumer and Akkad, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, 04/03/1973 - 05/27/1973
• [Teaching Exhibition], Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, 11/01/1972 - 01/01/1973
• The Book and the Spade: An Exhibition of Biblical Art and Archaeology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 04/13/1975 - 05/04/1975
• Dialogue with Antiquity: The Curatorial Achievement of George M.A. Hanfmann, Fogg Art Museum, 05/07/1982 - 06/26/1982

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