Figurine of a Woman in a Scaled Coat
Unknown · Middle Elamite period, c. 1400-1100 BC
A small woman stands with her hands clasped at her waist, wrapped in a long coat covered with a pattern of overlapping scales. The figurine is only eight and a half centimetres high and has lost its lower part, but the scaly texture is still crisp. Whether the pattern represents a real garment of stitched or quilted cloth, or something more symbolic, is uncertain.
Unlike the naked women displayed nearby, this figure is fully dressed, which suggests a different subject: perhaps a worshipper, a priestess or a goddess in a ceremonial robe. It was found in the Royal City of Susa and belongs to the Middle Elamite period, between the fourteenth and twelfth century BC. Moulded terracotta figurines were cheap and abundant at Susa, and the variety of types displayed in this room, from musicians to naked goddesses to cloaked women, gives a glimpse of the images ordinary people kept. The Louvre received the piece through the partage of finds from the French excavations.
Did You Know? Scaled garments appear on images of gods and kings across the ancient Near East, so the coat may signal a divine or royal status.
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