Statue of Gudea (c. 2144–2124 BCE): Art, History and Details

Statue of Gudea (c. 2144–2124 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This headless figure’s clasped hands create a distinctive gesture that recurs frequently on more than 30 recorded statues of the Mesopotamian ruler Gudea. Between c. 2144–2124 BCE, Gudea ruled as ensi (governor) of the city-state of Lagash, located in modern-day Iraq. Scholars have identified more than 2,400 inscriptions that describe his reign, which included patronage of the arts and an extensive building program. Statues like this one would have been placed in temples as stand-ins for Gudea himself, demonstrating his devotion and piety.

Object facts

• Title: Statue of Gudea
• Date: c. 2144–2124 BCE
• Culture: Mesopotamia, Neo-Sumerian, Iraq, Girsu
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: dolerite
• Dimensions: Overall: 126 x 55 x 36 cm (49 5/8 x 21 5/8 x 14 3/16 in.)
• Collection: Near Eastern Art
• Department: Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art
• Accession number: 1963.154

A detail from the museum

Twice in the 20th century, this headless figure was wrongly "completed" with the head 1963.680, which comes from a similar sculpture.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Scheil, Vincent. "Nouvelles Statues de Gudea." Revue d'Assyriologie et d'Archeologie Orientale, volume 27, no. 4 (1930): 161-166, pl. V.
• Parrot, André. Tello; Vingt Campagnes de Fouilles (1877-1933). Paris: A. Michel (1948): 167-169.
• Shepherd, Dorothy G. “Gudea, Patési of Lagash.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 50, no. 9 (November 1963): 243–248.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.