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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1983.105
Title
Cuneiform Tablet: Old Assyrian Text
Classification
Tablets
Work Type
tablet
Date
c.1900-1750 BCE
Period
Bronze Age, Middle
Culture
Assyrian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/289669

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Clay
Technique
Impressed
Dimensions
2.6 x 4 x 1.3 cm (1 x 1 9/16 x 1/2 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Nanette Rodney Kelekian, New York, formerly in the possession of her father Charles Dikran Kelekian; gift to Fogg Art Museum, 1983.

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
CDLI P393104

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Nanette B. Rodney
Accession Year
1983
Object Number
1983.105
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Small rectangular clay tablet with cuneiform writing. The tablet is inscribed with ruled lines of text written in the Old Assyrian dialect of the Akkadian language. Tablet is whole with 4 lines of text on obverse, 1 on lower edge and 1 on reverse. The rest of tablet is uninscribed and there are no seal impressions. The tablet probably comes from the trading colony (karum) by the mound of Kültepe (ancient Kanesh) near Kaiseri in Cappadocia (central Anatolia).

The text is very short and records the writer of the tablet (line 5: "I gave") entrusting 7 shekels of second-quality silver, presumably for transport.

IMAGE: Top row, first on left.

Publication History

  • Deena Ragavan, “Cuneiform Texts and Fragments in the Harvard Art Museum / Arthur M. Sackler Museum”, Cuneiform Digital Library Journal (2010), no. 6.9

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/31/2019 - 01/08/2020; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/04/2021 - 01/02/2022; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/02/2023 - 12/30/2023; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/31/2024 - 01/05/2025

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