Ancient Near East, Mesopotamia, reign of Gudea of Lagash, ca. 2144 to 2124 BCE. A fine hand-built foundation cone with roughly three-quarters of its conical body wrapped in cuneiform text. The body tapers to a rounded point and has a wide, disc-shaped head on the other end. The thirteen columns of text were created by impressing a sharpened reed or stick into the still-wet clay just before undergoing the kilning process. Clay nails like this are also referred to as dedication pegs or funerary pegs; they were inscribed, baked, and stuck into walls made of mud-brick to mark ownership either by a god or a ruler These dedications sometimes include stories or boasts about the rulers they describe, and are some of our earliest sources of royal written history. Size: 4.75" L x 2.125" W (12.1 cm x 5.4 cm).

This cone was created during the reign of Gudea of Lagash. When translated, it roughly reads, "Gudea, Ensi (ruler) of Lagash, produced resplendently everything appropriate for Ningirsu, Warrior of Enlil, and built and restored his E-ninnu (Ningirsu's temple), the bright Imdugud ("heavy wind") bird."

For a similar example and credit for the translation of this foundation cone, please see the Detroit Institute of Arts, accession number 1983.34: https://www.dia.org/art/collection/object/foundation-cone-gudea-king-lagash-55609

Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection

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#135564

Surface wear and abrasions commensurate with age as expected, small losses to discoid head, fading to some areas of inscribed text, and roughness across most surfaces. Nice earthen deposits and encrustations throughout.