Figurine of a Naked Woman
Unknown · Isin-Larsa or Old Babylonian period, first half of the second millennium BC
A small terracotta plaque, about ten centimetres tall, shows a woman standing naked on a low pedestal, her hands clasped at her waist and a necklace at her throat. The figure is frontal and symmetrical, her hips and thighs emphasised, her hair framing a small face. The relief was pressed from a single mould, which gives it a slightly soft outline, and the back is flat. It is complete, which is unusual for such fragile objects. Compare it with the bull-man plaque nearby, made by the same technique for the same kind of household use.
Figurines of naked women are among the commonest objects found in Mesopotamian houses of the early second millennium before our era. They are usually connected with fertility, protection and perhaps with the goddess Ishtar, though they carry no inscription and their exact meaning is debated. This one was found at Larsa, the great city of southern Babylonia, during the French soundings there, and it came to the Louvre through the partage of finds. It is a modest object, but it shows what images ordinary families kept at home.
Did You Know? Figurines like this were so common in Babylonian homes that excavators find them by the dozen in a single street.
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