Head of a Woman

CultureMesopotamian

Datemid-3rd millennium B.C.E.

MediumLimestone with shell and lapis lazuli

DimensionsOverall: 2 3/4 inches (6.99 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number55-43

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

Ancient Art

Terms

Gallery Label

This head belonged to the statuette of a figure placed in a temple and standing in eternal prayer to the Moon God. The elaborately patterned hair frames her softly modeled face.

Provenance

Found at Sin Temple IX, Khafajah, by Henri Frankfort, University of Chicago [1];

With Paul Mallon, New York, by 1955;

Purchased from Mallon by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1955.

NOTES:

[1] Henri Frankfurt, “Sculpture of the Third Millennium B.C. from Tell Asmar and Khafājah,” The University of Chicago Oriental Institute Publications 44 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1939), 71.

Published References

Henri Frankfurt, “Sculpture of the Third Millennium B.C. from Tell Asmar and Khafājah,” The University of Chicago Oriental Institute Publications, vol. 44 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1939), 71, no. 123, plate 85.

“Epic of Man, Part V, First great Civilization,” Life (June 4, 1956): 91.

Ross E. Taggart, ed., Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 4^th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 9.

Ross E. Taggart and George L. McKenna, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. 1, Art of the Occident, 5th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), 11.

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 117.

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 4, fig. 3.

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.