Standing Male Worshiper in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 2007

Standing male worshiper
Alabaster (gypsum), inlaid with shell and black limestone
Central Mesopotamia, excavated at Tell Asmar (ancient Eshnunna), Square Temple of the god Abu
Early Dynastic II, 2750-2600 BC

By exchange from the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago. Accession # 40.156

This figure belongs to a hoard of 12 statues buried beside an altar in the Abu Temple. The hoard is the definitive example of Early Dynastic sculpture in the abstract style, characterized by geometric forms.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.