Sumerian Dedication Nail in the Walters Art Museum, September 2009

Dedication Nail


Creator: Sumerian (Artist)

Period: ca. 2100 BC (Neo-Sumerian)

Medium: baked clay (Ceramics)

Accession Number: 48.1457

Measurements: Body H: 6 5/16 x Diam: 1 3/4 in. (16 x 4.5 cm); Diam of Head: 2 11/16 in. (6.9 cm)

Geography: Lagash (present-day Telloh, Iraq) (Place of Discovery)

Clay nails such as this one inscribed with the name of King Gudea of Lagash were embedded in the upper parts of walls, sometimes with the head protruding. They may have developed from the custom of hammering a peg into a wall to signal ownership. This example bears a dedication to a deity and would have symbolically marked a temple as divine property.

Text from: art.thewalters.org/detail/3157/dedication-nail/