Worshipper of Larsa
Unknown · First Dynasty of Babylon, reign of Hammurabi, 1792-1750 BC
A man kneels on one knee with his right hand raised to his mouth, the ancient gesture of prayer, wearing a cap with a high brim close to the royal headdress of the time. He is cast in copper, and his face and hands are plated with gold, so that the parts of the body that address the god shine. The base holds a small basin for offerings, decorated with two reliefs: one repeats the kneeling man facing a seated deity, the other shows a recumbent ram. The whole is under twenty centimetres high.
A long Sumerian inscription on the base explains the statuette. Lu-Nanna, a high dignitary of the city of Larsa, dedicated it to the god Amurru, patron of the Amorites, for the life of Hammurabi, king of Babylon. Hammurabi conquered Larsa around 1763 before our era, and the gift was a way for a local official to show loyalty to the new master while praying for his health. The figure has often been taken for a portrait of the king himself, but the text names only the dedicant. The Louvre bought the piece in 1931.
Did You Know? Only the face and the hands are gilded, the parts of the body that speak to the god; the rest of the kneeling man is plain copper.
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