Base and feet of a worshipper

Base and feet of a worshipper

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Many Early Dynastic dedicatory statues stand with their left foot forward, but there are many exceptions to this rule, especially when the feet and legs are carved against a back support. This base for a missing statue depicts two feet side-by-side. However, they are carved in the round. The details of the toes and nails are very finely modeled. A mortise hole in the back of the base suggests that this was part of a composite statue in which the figure was constructed from separate pieces of carved stone fitted together with pegs and dowels.

Ancient Near Eastern Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Base and feet of a worshipperBase and feet of a worshipperBase and feet of a worshipperBase and feet of a worshipperBase and feet of a worshipper

The Met's Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art cares for approximately 7,000 works ranging in date from the eighth millennium B.C. through the centuries just beyond the emergence of Islam in the seventh century A.D. Objects in the collection were created by people in the area that today comprises Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean coast, Yemen, and Central Asia. From the art of some of the world's first cities to that of great empires, the department's holdings illustrate the beauty and craftsmanship as well as the profound interconnections, cultural and religious diversity, and lasting legacies that characterize the ancient art of this vast region.