Gypsum
H: 7.3 cm
Provenance: no indication; probably Diyala Valley (Khafaje?)
Sumerian
Early Dynastic III. c. 2600 B.C.
Condition: material slightly veined, maybe crystallized gypsum or poor alabaster. It has a heavy feel and the texture of marble. Unevenly broken at the neck, a slice off the front of the nose and a chip on the chin.
Eyes once inlaid probably with shell on bitumen, and eyebrows formerly inlaid also.
This head of a worshipper bears very strong resemblance to that of a male statue from the Sin Temple IX at Khafaje [1].
1 Chicago, Oriental Institute Museum A 12413: Frankfort, H.: Sculpture of the Third Millennium B.C. from Tell Asmar and Khafajah, OIP 44 (Chicago, 1939), no. 22, pp. 58-59 pl. 36, 40.
