Inlay: woman wearing a cylinder seal, playing a flute

This plaque is cut from a piece of pearly shell in the shape of a woman, nearly complete except for the lower legs and feet. She wears a headdress made of wrapped material, below which a row of curls can be seen on her forehead. Her prominent nose, eyebrow and eye, with drilled pupil, define her face; her mouth is not indicated and a row of drill-holes, perhaps a necklace, marks the transition between head and body. Two vertical incised lines seem to represent a flute, which she holds in her hands. Another set of incised lines at right may be a garment border, which laps over her left wrist. A bracelet worn on this wrist bears a pendant in the form of a cylinder seal, represented as a boxy shape divided in half by an incised line that depicts the string from which it is suspended. It is a rare example of a representation of a cylinder seal in use. The plaque was probably set in bitumen (a tar-like substance used as an adhesive) with pieces of shell and stone to create a composition in contrasting colors, a characteristic technique of the late Early Dynastic period exemplified by the well-known Standard of Ur, now in the British Museum.

Nippur, the great holy city of southern Mesopotamia, was the home of the chief deity Enlil and housed temples to Enlil and many other gods. Excavations in the temple of the goddess Inanna have revealed that the sanctuary was first built in the Early Dynastic I period and continually rebuilt on the same site until the Parthian period, some three thousand years later. Hundreds of objects were discovered in the temple: statues, stone bowls and plaques, inlays, furniture attachments, and other fragmentary items, found either in hoards or scattered throughout the building.