Seated Baboon

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Seated Baboon

Iran, Elamite, second half of 3rd millennium B.C
Sculpture
Gypsum, inlaid with steatite
Height: 4 in. (10.2 cm)
The Ahmanson Foundation, and the Museum Acquisition Fund (M.87.39)
Art of the Middle East: Ancient
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

The civilization of Elam (a word that in the ancient language of Akkadian meant "highland") originated in the local prehistoric cultures of southern and southwestern Iran; it flourished in the souther...
The civilization of Elam (a word that in the ancient language of Akkadian meant "highland") originated in the local prehistoric cultures of southern and southwestern Iran; it flourished in the southern half of the Iranian plateau from the late fourth millennium BC, until its demise in the fifth century BC. This Elamite statuette of a baboon, shown in a crouching position and holding a container, dates from the third millennium BC. It is made of soft, cream-colored gypsum, with eyes inlaid in steatite. Its provenance has been a topic of scholarly debate, but it seems that the LACMA baboon was imported to the ancient city of Susa or to Elamite regions of southern Iran, and that its place of manufacture may have been eastern Iran or even Afghanistan.
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Bibliography

  • Price, Lorna.  Masterpieces from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  Los Angeles:  Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1988.
  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art Members' Calendar 1988,  vol. 25-26, no. 12-1 (December, 1987-January, 1989).
  • Price, Lorna.  Masterpieces from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  Los Angeles:  Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1988.
  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art Members' Calendar 1988,  vol. 25-26, no. 12-1 (December, 1987-January, 1989).
  • Mousavi, Ali. Ancient Near Eastern art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2012.
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