Rare Sumerian Pottery Seated Female Votive Figure w/ TL

Ancient Near East, Sumer, ca. mid-2nd millennium BCE. A hand-built pottery seated female figure presenting nude with ample hips above bent knees, a slender waist, voluptuous breasts in front of narrow shoulders, and a slender neck. Her highly stylized visage is incised on the front of the rounded head and has almond-shaped, diagonally slanted eyes beneath high-arching brows, a perky triangular nose, full lips centered between rounded cheeks, a petite chin, and tab-shaped ears, all beneath a hemispherical top that perhaps once housed additional ornamentation. The nude, white-painted presentation suggests this woman was meant as a votive offering that featured additional clothing, inlays, and wigs, and her missing arms would perhaps have wrapped around the front of her toned abdomen. Sumerian figural effigies like this typically only contain the head and parts of the neck, so a figure with a body and legs is quite rare! Size: 1.3" W x 3.2" H (3.3 cm x 8.1 cm); 3.8" H (9.7 cm) on included custom stand.

This piece has been tested using thermoluminescence (TL) analysis and has been found to be ancient and of the period stated. A full report will accompany purchase.

Provenance: ex-private Khan family collection, New Jersey, USA, acquired in the 1990s

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#152744
Condition Report: Original arms, feet, and additional clothing/wigs missing. Minor nicks to shoulders, legs, body, and head, with light encrustations, and fading to original pigmentation. Nice earthen deposits throughout. One TL drill hole beneath left ankle.