Plaque of embracing couple

Title

Plaque of embracing couple
Associated place

Sumer (find spot)
Date

4000 BC - 3500 BC
Akkadian Empire (c. 2350 - 2150 BC)
Old Babylonian (c. 1900 - 1600 BC)
Material and technique

terracotta, mould-made and with incised decoration
Object type

plaque
Dimensions

6.5 cm (height)
6.1 cm (width)
No. of items

1
Credit line

Presented by Professor A. H. Sayce, 1924.
Museum location

not on display
Museum department

Antiquities
Accession no.

AN1924.671

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Catalogue text

Man and woman in low relief; mouldmade with incised detail; baked; cream slip on pinkish buff fabric; to left: a man shown full-face with incised hair retained by a brow-band; square beard, marked by incised vertical lines, flanked by side-locks with curling ends; right arm bent with the hand on his abdomen; his left arm embraces the woman on the right, as her left arm does him, emerging with her left hand on his upper right arm; the lower part of his garment (marked with incised vertical lines); is now missing; to right: a woman shown full-face with her hair dressed into bunches on either side of the head and in a pile on the top, all retained by a brow-band and marked with incised vertical lines; traces of a choker necklace; her garment has a prominent upper border running above the breasts and across her shoulder; below the breasts (which may be exposed); what survives of the skirt is marked with incised vertical lines; incised framing line round the plaque's inner edge.

In: Moorey, P. R. S., Ancient Near Eastern Terracottas (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2005)

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