Object Description
An extremely fine Syro-Mesopotamian head of a male worshipper, sculpted out of veined gypsum, from the Mari culture. The head features a finely sculpted contour of the bony structure of the worshipper’s skull, reflecting the astonishing achievement in the Syro-Mesopotamian sculpting techniques of the third millennium B.C. There are three horizontal grooves at the back of the skull, depicting the folds of flesh at the back of the head. These may indicate the slight movement of his head, which he raises in a gesture of adoration, as a worshipper or a statuette dedicated to the deities. His almond-shaped eyes are deeply hollowed: two inlays with blue painted irises, probably made of shell, bitumen, or lapis lazuli, might have been placed here originally. The single double arching brow is also recessed, but it appears to be insufficiently deep for any embedded material. The statuette features a prominent pyramid-shaped nose, with hollowed nostrils. The lips were carved to be shown pressing together, divided by a thin and shallow groove that raises slightly at each end. His full beard, rendered in thick and straight strands, is outlined by deeply incised grooves. The ears were carefully portrayed with well-defined details of the inner contour.
Date: Circa 2450-2200 BC.
Period: Early Dynastic III to the Akkadian Dynasty.