Vase of Entéména

The liturgical vase of Entéména is a part discovered on the site of Tello (old Girsu) in the country of Sumer.
It makes 28cm height without the base, and 35 cm height with its base for a diameter of 18cm. Mainly made up of money, it contains a also little copper.
It is gone back to 2400 av. J. - C. env, and is preserved at the museum of Louvre at the department of Eastern antiquities with the number of inventory AO 2674.

Archeology

Tello

The modern site of Tello was named Girsu, and was the capital of the state sumérien which corresponded to the town of Lagash; it has an direct access with the Persian Gulf while passing by the Tiger.
Tello was discovered in 1877 per E. of Sarzec which was vice French Consul to Bassora - in Iraq - and was the subject of a score of excavation campaigns between 1877 and 1933.
The systematic beginning of excavation as from 1842 on the site of Girsu, were of an major importance for the discoveries that one there made later and especially for the redécouverte world sumérien.

Discovered vase

At the time of the fifth and the sixth forwarding carried out by E. of Sarzec in 1888 and 1889, of the monuments and the old documents were exhumed, among these works belonging at the beginning of the III ième millenium and with the line of Ur-Nanshe, the vase of Entéména was which unfortunately formed part of the treasures which went to the museum of Constantinople. Indeed, the Turkish government had made passed of new laws aiming at preserving works which were found on their territory, thus preventing the foreign diggers from taking along their discovery in their country.
The site where the vase was found left some questions, because this last had been exhumed in a trench. E. De Sarzec thought that it had been hidden undoubtedly there by the sumériens so that it is not stolen. Perhaps also the vase was not functional any more and which the mésopotamiens buried their faulty instruments liturgical but never did not disencumber any.
Sarzec did not have any evil to know which had been the silent partner of this work because a wedge-shaped inscription located in twenty two boxes placed on the collar of the vase indicates “For Ningirsu, the champion of Enlil, Entéména, prince de Lagash… his Master which likes it, worked a purified money vase in which Ningirsu can eat… and for its life, carried it in Ningirsu of Eninnu. In that time Dudu was priest of Ningirsu. ”

Iconography

The paunch of the vase

On all the circumference of the paunch of this liturgical vase spreads a reason represented four times: there is the lion léontocéphale Anzu, animal attribute of the Ningirsu god who is an eagle enclosing between his greenhouses in a successive way of the lions, the stags, the lions and of capridés. The lions bite capridés and the stags with the boor, they evolve/move on a line representing the ground which is materialized by rafters.
With the top of this decorative and illustrated plank seven heifers lying are being raised - their right leg is folded and the shoe is posed on its point what gives an indication when to their gestural -, placed in row.
These two planks show a contrast: that of the animal world and savage with the lions attack the capridés stags and, and the calm one of the grazing grounds with the heifers.

The topic of the lion léontocéphale

The topic of the heifers showing calm grazing grounds and tamed nature is often put in connection with that of the wild animal world, the sumériens being proud to have controlled nature.
On the relief of Dudu - priest of Ningirsu which one finds named on the wedge-shaped inscription of the collar of the vase of Entéména - dating from antiquated dynasties III (towards 2450 av. J. - C.) - thus at the same time approximately as the vase of Entéména - this topic is still found.
That being doubtless the notation symbolic of surpuissant the Ningirsu god who governs and controls the world.

Metallurgy

Sumériens and metallurgy

The sumériens were remarkable metallurgists in spite of the lack of ores on their ground. The rise of the metallurgy dates particularly from the DA III - or Dynastic Antiquated III - under the period of the Old Bronze of which dates with -1200 front J. - C.
Indeed, they were to make come metals - that translating of developed commercial exchanges - to by far be able to work it. They made import the copper - of which they made great use - mainly Golf of Oman, this importation being facilitated by the access direct to the sea by the Tiger.
The techniques and metallurgical projections of the sumériens did not have equivalences in the remainder of the Close old East, indeed, in the middle of the Third millennium the craftsmen sumériens knew the majority of the techniques and could learnedly calculate alloys.

Manufacture of the vase

Le vase of King Entéména is one of most beautiful - and famous - the object which one found of the civilization of Sumer. It combines at the same time the money and copper in a single composition in its kind.
The vase with the shape of an earthenware jar without handles (what is characteristic of this time), its paunch is ovoid good bent connected to a right collar. It is posed, right from the start, on a circular basis out of copper with feet in the shape of claws of lions but oxidation made the reading a little badly easy nowadays.
Thus, it was carried out with part of only one silver foil which the craftsman has - in first place pressed out of hemispherical cut - or of half - before assembling the walls. It then restricted the part with the collar which was reinforced inside by a plate welded with a copper and money alloy. The goldsmith has thus to calculate the quantity of money necessary to pass from a metal parallelepiped to an object manufactured with a wall a given thickness, without matter inside. He located then the site exact of the figures to be carried out on curved space. The reasons were then engraved and the multiple engraved details.

External bonds

HTTP: /www.louvre.fr/llv/activite/detail_parcours.jsp?CURRENT_LLV_PARCOURS%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198674055215&CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198674055219&CURRENT_LLV_CHEMINEMENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198674055219&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723696500800: Museum of Louvre

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