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A metal figure with the top half depicting a person holding a basket shape over their head, and the bottom half being a smooth shaft that tapers to a rounded end.

This is a figure made out of dark metal with mottled green discoloration on the surface. The upper half of the figure is a human male, with both arms straight up above the figures head. The arms are holding a basket shaped object on top of the figure's head. The lower half of the figure is a smooth, round shaft that tapers to a rounded point at its end.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1995.1136
Title
Foundation Peg, Probably of King Shulgi (2094-2047 BCE)
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Foundation Figure, Carrying on His Head a Basket with Ropework Motif
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
statuette, sculpture
Date
late 3rd Millennium BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Sumer (Mesopotamia)
Period
Neo-Sumerian period, Third Dynasty of Ur
Culture
Neo-Sumerian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/287659

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
26.5 x 8.7 x 4.7 cm (10 7/16 x 3 7/16 x 1 7/8 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Copper:
Cu, 98.84; Sn, less than 0.25; Pb, 0.1; Zn, 0.011; Fe, 0.03; Ni, 0.28; Ag, 0.16; Sb, less than 0.05; As, 0.56; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, 0.02; Au, less than 0.02; Cd, less than 0.002

J. Riederer

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Tracer
Alloy: Copper
Alloying Elements: copper
Other Elements: lead, iron, nickel, silver, arsenic

K. Eremin, January 2014

Technical Observations: The patina ranges from reddish-brown cuprite to a more pitted green and brown. A dent in the back rim of the basket appears to contain a large amount of light brown wax, which resulted from waxing the surface, and some blue azurite corrosion products.

This peg is a solid cast made in a two-part mold that was poorly aligned, as can be seen from the raised seam lines visible along the sides of the figure. There does not seem to have been much effort made to remove the seam lines, which suggests that this was perhaps not an object of the highest quality. The modeling is also relatively simple, with practically no definition of musculature. There are no undercuts. The texture of the rope and the features of the face and ears are crudely defined and finished; the faceting was clearly created with a chisel. On the other hand, the surface of the figure has been heavily cleaned to remove disfiguring corrosion products, which has resulted in an overall smoothing of the surface. It is difficult to determine how representative the current surface is of the original modeling, given the extent of work that was done to reclaim the surface. This work seems to account for the file marks and other abrasive marks that can be found overall.


Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2011)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Nelson Goodman, Weston, MA, (by 1969-1995), gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 1995.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Nelson Goodman
Accession Year
1995
Object Number
1995.1136
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
The modeled upper body of a nude male figure forms the top portion of this copper peg. The figure’s arms are raised with bent elbows to gracefully support a basket with a ropework base that rests upon his bald head. The figure’s clean-shaven face is broad and has rounded features, with large, almond-shaped eyes, a prominent nose, small closed lips, and large, protruding ears. A line around the torso marks the upper hem of a kilt. From this line down, the figure swells at the hips and then tapers to a blunt point forming a smooth uninscribed peg.

This object portrays a king carrying a basket of clay or other building material during his ritual participation in the construction of a royal building or temple, which is typical of copper and bronze “canephore” or “basket bearer” pegs. A late third millennium BCE text (Cylinder A) of the ruler Gudea of Lagash provides a detailed description of his active role in the construction of the Ningirsu Temple at Girsu, during which he transported material in a sacred basket that he carried “on his head like a crown” (1).

Although it is not inscribed and its original context is unknown, stylistically this peg is nearly identical to others that are securely dated to the reigns of the Ur III kings Ur-Nammu (2112-2095 BCE) and Shulgi (2094-2047 BCE) (2). Many of these pegs were found by archaeologists in boxes built into the mudbrick foundations of temples and palaces, often at the corners of buildings and flanking gateways. They were frequently accompanied by the remains of offerings or auspicious material such as beads, stone chips, and date pits, and some pegs were found with remnants of fabric clinging to them. Many boxes also contained remnants of what may have been wooden pegs as well as stone or metal tablets in the form of plano-convex bricks. The inscriptions on the tablets and on a number of pegs record the royal building of the relevant structure for the sake of a deity (3).

The resemblance of foundation figure pegs and their associated tablets to traditional building materials illustrates their role as architectural devices. Although foundation pegs had no structural significance, their presence would have contributed symbolically to the strength and security of important buildings in Sumerian cities.

NOTES:

1. See D. O. Edzard, Gudea and His Dynasty, The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Early Periods 3.1 (Toronto, 1997) 68-88, text 1.1.7, lines 24-26.

2. See O. W. Muscarella, Bronze and Iron: Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1988) 305-13; and R. S. Ellis, Foundation Deposits in Ancient Mesopotamia (New Haven, 1968) 63-69.

3. See, for example, a five-line Ur-Nammu inscription on the material from the foundation boxes of the Enlil Temple at Nippur in D. Frayne, Ur III (2112-2004), The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Early Periods 3.2 (Toronto, 1997) 59-61, text 1.1.24.


Amy Gansell

Publication History

  • James Cuno, ed., A Decade of Collecting: Recent Acquisitions by the Harvard University Art Museums, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, Mass., Spring 2000), p. 22
  • Séan Hemingway, "The Age of Bronze in Greece, Cyprus, and the Near East", Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, ed. Susanne Ebbinghaus, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2014), 20-37, pp. 25 and 27-28, fig. 1.4.
  • Susanne Ebbinghaus, ed., Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, Harvard Art Museum and Yale University Press (Cambridge, MA, 2014), pp. 20, 25, 27, 66, 72, fig. 1.4

Exhibition History

  • The Book and the Spade: An Exhibition of Biblical Art and Archaeology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 04/13/1975 - 05/04/1975
  • Re-View: S422 Ancient & Byzantine Art & Numismatics, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 04/12/2008 - 06/18/2011
  • 32Q: 3440 Middle East, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 12/14/2022

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes
  • Google Art Project
  • Collection Highlights

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu