Striding figure with ibex horns, a raptor skin draped around the shoulders, and upturned boots

Unknown

ca. 3000 BCE · Copper alloy · Ancient Near Eastern Art

This solid-cast sculpture is one of a pair of nearly identical images of a hero or a demon wearing the upturned boots associated with highland regions, his power enhanced by the mighty horns of the ibex on his head and the body and wings of a bird of prey draped around his shoulders. It was created at the time the first cities emerged in ancient Sumer. A new world view conceived of human figures in realistic terms, through accurate proportions and highly modeled forms with distinctive features. The blending of human and animal forms to visualize the supernatural world and perhaps to express shamanistic beliefs, however, is more characteristic of the contemporary arts of Proto-Elamite Iran, where a remarkable tradition of metalworking developed during this period.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 3000 BCE

Medium

Copper alloy

Culture

Proto-Elamite

Department

Ancient Near Eastern Art

Credit line

Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 2007