medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Thanks, Christopher.
Jim, for the ID of Gudea (far outside my area of expertise) I rely on
the BM, but it seems reasonable to me given Gudea's mania for
self-representation and and the surviving portion's similarity to those
images. The finished/natural look of the concavities is due to grinding
down, as Christopher notes, with a pestle (using the statue as a
mortar). For such a hard stone (basalt) "official" shaping is done in
the same way, i.e. grinding rather than using a chisel. Official
shaping, however, is on images of this period normally given a high
polish, as these concavities are not.
Best,
Genevra
>> Genevra,
>> Do you happen to know how these feet have been identified as those of Gudea?
> An inscription, perhaps? What I find fascinating about this is that they are
> not surrounded by "unfinished" rock forms but by finished attempts at creating
> "natural" rock forms. The emphasis on feet is also
> reminiscent of the cult of Serapis.
>
> non, Jim, that was my first thought when looking at it, but G. set me straight
> by saying that those "unfinished rock forms" were the result of the [broken?]
> statue being used as a pestle for grinding grain.
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