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Home>Collection & Louvre Palace>Curatorial Departments>Monkey statuette
Work Monkey statuette
Department of Near Eastern Antiquities: Iran
Statuette of a monkey
© 2011 Musée du Louvre / Thierry Ollivier
This little red limestone monkey dates from the late 3rd millennium BC. The animal appears to be an Asian macaque. Few depictions of it have been found at Susa. This statuette indicates the existence of commercial and cultural exchanges with the Indus Valley and Central Asia, where many representations of monkeys have been found.
A small monkey dating from the Bronze Age
This little red limestone monkey sitting on its hindquarters, with its back legs drawn up to its belly and its hands on its knees, was found at Susa and dates from the late 3rd millennium BC. It may depict a common Asian macaque. Its eyes are round and hollow, indicating that they may have been inlaid. The animal's tail forms a curved line at the back.
The monkey - an animal rarely depicted at Susa
This is one of the rare ancient representations of this animal found at Susa. Another monkey, already with an almost human air about it, was found in one of the two "Archaic depots" dating from the Uruk period, consisting in a group of small alabaster statuettes of praying figures and animals (birds, a bear, and a pig). These objects reflected the style of sculpture in this period in Mesopotamia. A number of copper cosmetic flasks from Bactria (present-day Afghanistan) dating from the late 3rd or early 2nd millennium BC also represent monkeys and mythical animals, half-monkey half-human. Depictions of monkeys squatting and sitting on stools like humans are also to be found on metal seals from the same region.
An animal perhaps from the Indus Valley
Rarely depicted in the Susian region, the monkey was a common motif in many areas of Eastern Asia (including the Indus civilization, notably in the Harappa region), and the Mediterranean Basin (in Egypt, for example). This monkey may be an indication of the relations maintained by Susa with the Indus Valley and the regions of Central Asia (Afghanistan).
Bibliography
The Royal city of Susa New-York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 16 novembre 1992 - 7 mars 1993, New-York, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992, p.97 ; ill.61.Technical description
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Statuette of a monkey
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Red limestone
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R. de Mecquenem excavations
Sb 5884
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Richelieu wing
Ground floor
Iran and Susa during the 3rd millennium BC
Room 231
Display case 4: Exotic imports at Susa, 26001700 BC. Susa IVB (23402100 BC)
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