Lagash II statue
- Gallery: Room 56
- Culture: Lagash II
- Date: 2130BC (about)
- Object type: statue
- Materials: dolerite (mottled green)
- Museum number: 122910
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
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About this object
Before you stands the "Lagash II statue," an ancient figure carved from mottled green dolerite. This is the upper part of a statue showing a standing figure with the head intact, though the neck has been restored. The statue’s face shows signs of intentional damage on the left side and the back of the head, likely done in antiquity before the head was severed.
This work hails from Tello, in what is now southern Iraq, and dates to around 2130 BC. The material is a coarse, dark green stone, polished to a smooth finish. Small traces of yellowish substance on the fingernails suggest the possibility of painted details.
The statue once belonged to Sir Sydney Burney, who donated it to the museum. Curators believe it could represent the Sumerian ruler Gudea. Over time, the statue changed in appearance, becoming quite black—possibly due to past wax treatments. It was restored several times, including by a sculptor named Leon Underwood, to suggest a full-length figure.
See it in person
Lagash II statue is on display in Room 56 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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