Standing male figure

Standing male figure

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This standing male figure is a funerary or votive object intended to be placed in a tomb or temple. Dressed in a long, plain garment reaching almost to the ankles, the figure stands in a fully frontal pose. The base, which is carved in one piece with the figure, bears the name of the individual and his clan—Sadiqim Ma'ad. The eyes and eyebrows are carved to hold inlays, now missing, and the arms are bent at the elbows, extending out at right angles to the body. One hand is clenched in a fist, pierced vertically to hold some object, perhaps a scepter, now lost. The other hand is open. The undersurface of the base and the top and back of the figure's head are roughly carved. Such statues were often set in niches, and the surfaces not visible were consequently left unfinished on many examples. The placement of the ears high on the head, the aquiline nose, the small mouth, and the fully frontal pose are all characteristic of human images made in this region.

Ancient Near Eastern Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.