These votive figures from Tell Asmar really stood out to me when we viewed them in class. These voluminous figures are typical of their time period and follow conventions that were common in Sumerian art. They are sculpted in-the-round (sculpted on all sides except for the base) and vary in size and slightly in appearance. The figures are extremely stylized in both face and body, there is little definition of gender, and the clothing and poses really emphasize their heavy, cylindrical shape. The figures all share a common pose and expression, their hands prayerfully folded and their faces peaceful and reverent.
However, the eyes on these figures are what really catches one's attention. The large, wide-eyed stare that we now associate with cartoon characters was once considered a look of deep devotional prayer. In the textbook, the author states that "[these figures] are directly related to an ancient Near Eastern devotional practice in which individual worshippers could set up images of themselves in a shrine before a larger, more elaborate image of a god (31)." Therefore, these statues represented real people and allowed them to be in constant "eye-contact" with their god. This tells us, the modern viewers, a lot about the Sumerian people: it shows how important their religion was to them and gives us an idea of their everyday worship practices.
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