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Foundation Figure

CultureMesopotamian
Dateca. 2090 B.C.E.
MediumBronze
DimensionsOverall: 8 × 3 1/4 × 3 3/4 inches (20.32 × 8.26 × 9.53 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number30-1/50
On View
On view
Gallery Location
  • 103
Collections
DescriptionCrouching statuette of king in bronze, holding long object; fine malachite patinaExhibition History

Biblical Art and Archaeology, Elvehjem Art Center, Madison, WI, April 13-May 4, 1975.

 

Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, May 5, 2003-August 17, 2003, no. 312a,b.

 

Breath of Heaven, Breath of Earth: Ancient Near Eastern Art from American Collections, Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Willamette University, Salem, OR, August 31, 2013-December 22, 2013.

Provenance

Excavated at Tello (ancient Girsu) by the Louvre Museum, 1930;

Acquired from the Louvre excavation by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1930.

Published References

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), 108.

 

Oscar White Muscarella, “312 a, b Foundation Pegs Naming Gudea,” in Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus, ed. Joan Aruz, exh. cat. (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003), 438-40, (repro.).

 

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. 4.

Trudy Kawami and John Olbrantz, Breath of Heaven, Breath of Earth: Ancient Near Eastern Art from American Collections, exh. cat. (Salem, OR: Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Willamette University, 2013), 87, plate 5.
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.


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