Inlay: banquet scene with a seated figure holding a palm frond

This plaque is cut from a piece of pearly shell in the shape of a seated figure facing to the left, missing the head, feet and right arm. The figure’s gender cannot be determined by any surviving features or by the garment. The body is fully covered except for the left hand, which holds a branch-like object, either a palm frond, date spathe, or an implement such as a whip or fly whisk. A decorative border marked by two incised lines runs from the lap to the hem. 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.