KEPUKT ON THE SECTION Ot^ ORIENTAL ANTIQUITIES 

 IN THE U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1891. 



15y Cykus Adler, Assintant ('urator. 



The work of the year proceeded ou the liues hitherto marked out — 

 the assembling of a study collection illustrative of Biblical archaeology. 

 From November 1 until the close of the fiscal year the assistant cur- 

 ator was absent on leave, having accepted a commission from the 

 World's Columbian Exposition to proceed to the East in the interest of 

 the Exi)osition. Much of his time previous to that was devoted to a 

 collection of Jewish ceremonials which, Avhile cognate in a sense to 

 the work of the section, was separately installed. 



ACCESSIONS. 



Two casts of ancient Babylonian figures in the Louvre were added 

 to the collection. These have been placed on exhibition and labels 

 prepared. The one figure represents Gudea (" speaker " or " prophet") 

 the ancient priest-king (who reigned about 3800 B. C), as an architect. 

 The following statement concerning this specimen has been x)repared 

 by Prof. Paul Haupt, the honorary curator. 



Gudea is seated on a sort of stool in a religious attitude. The hands 

 are clasped in the oriental i:)Osture of meditation and devotion. On his 

 knees he holds a tablet with plan of a fortress. There are six gates 

 fianked by towers, and the walls are surmounted by battlements. In 

 front of this tablet there is a graduated rule, lOg inches long (=27 

 centimeters, /. e., a Babylonian half cubit), and at the side of it is the 

 style with which the architect engraved his design. The figure is clad 

 in a sleeveless cloak crossed over the breast and thrown back over the 

 shoulder. The Arab of this region still drapes himself in the same 

 fashion in his burnoose — a piece of woolen stuft" with a fringe which is 

 folded in two and wrapped around the body obliquely, so that it covers 

 one arm and leaves the other bare. 



The original is of blackish diorite with a bluish tinge. It was found 

 with a number of sculptures, inscribed cylinders, fragments of vases, 

 and remnants of various kinds of Chaldean art, in the ruins of an ancient 

 temple, at Telloh, during the extensive excavations undertaken from 

 1877-'81, by the French vice-consul at Bassora, M. Ernest de Sarzec. 

 His collection was purchased by the French Government, in 1881, for 

 150,000 francs (130,000). 



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