Statue of Napir-Asu (eahaa00250), Wiley's The Encyclopedia of Ancient History Asia and Africa

Excavations by the Délégation scientifique française en Perse at Susa in 1903 unveiled a life-size statue identified by its inscription as an image of Napir-Asu, wife of the Middle Elamite king Untash-Napirisha (ca. 1340-1300 BCE). The sculpture, which depicts the exquisitely dressed and adorned queen standing with her right hand resting over the left in front of her waist, is composed of a bronze core and a copper outer shell. It was produced using a sophisticated casting technique incorporating lost-wax, and additional details were chased into the copper surface after the sculpture was cast. The style and decorative elements of the garment, which include dotted circles to imitate precious metal appliqués, layers of luscious fringes, and complex geometrical arrangements of hatches, zigzag lines, dots and triangles suggestive of embroidery, are typical of royal female dress in both Napir-Asu’s era and later, as is the right-over-left-hand gesture. This rare surviving example of large-scale ancient Near Eastern metal sculpture offers insights into the highly developed copper and bronze casting technology reached at the time of Untash-Napirisha.