David Harris

An Elamite Goddess

Clasping her hands in prayer, this 3-inch-high bronze goddess epitomizes the superb metalwork produced in the kingdom of Elam in Iran during the tenth and ninth centuries B.C.E. The statue, cast in a mold and engraved, topped a linchpin of a chariot wheel. The goddess, wearing a fringed tunic with short sleeves and rolled cuffs, is adorned with a necklace of pomegranate beads and a horned diadem upon her braided hair.