Stele of the Music, Fragment with Musician and Procession
Unknown · Neo-Sumerian period, reign of Gudea, c. 2120 BC
A slab of pale limestone over a metre high keeps two registers of a much larger relief. Above, four men with shaved heads and long robes walk in procession; the first carries a dish and the second an adze, a tool used in temple building. Below is the scene that gives the stele its name: a seated musician plays a large lyre whose sound box is shaped like a bull, its head turned to face you, while a figure in front of him is probably a singer. On the narrow side of the block a bearded man wears a cap with a high brim. The strings, the bull's horns and the folds of the robes are carved with real delicacy.
The relief belongs to the reign of Gudea of Lagash, whose inscriptions describe the music, offerings and rituals that accompanied the rebuilding of the temple of Ningirsu. The block was found at Tello, ancient Girsu, but not in its original place: it had been reused as a paving stone in a passage of the much later palace of Adad-nadin-ahhe. It was purchased after Ernest de Sarzec's excavations in 1881.
Did You Know? The bull-headed lyre carved here matches real instruments found in the royal tombs of Ur, some of which still had their gold and lapis lazuli bull heads.
Unlock the Full Guide
Read every room and listen to every work in all museums with premium.