Standing Male Figure, Stylized Syro-Hittite type

This statuette standing frontally has an elongated torso and separate legs that join just above the small projecting feet. Male genitalia are clearly rendered. Both arms curve forward horizontally from the shoulders. The fingers on the left fist were rendered in the cast. The right hand, which has stubby articulated fingers, is held open and palm up; in it is placed a small rectangular object that has a small projection at the outer end. The statuette’s large oval head sits atop an elongated neck and is dominated by a large vertical nose that descends from the eyebrows. The eyes are almost imperceptible raised oval areas. A horizontal groove beneath the nose serves as the mouth, which may have been incised after casting. A high, pointed spike-like headdress projects vertically from the top of the head. The front surface has been abraded. This statuette is clearly a votive offering but differs from many other comparable pieces in that it holds an object in its extended right hand. Its general proportions and the prominent conical feature atop its head relate it both to the Syro-Hittite Levantine tradition and, to a lesser extent, to Hittite Empire statuettes. The conical headdress suggests that it may represent a deity. However, its charmingly awkward modeling reveals it to be a provincial product, perhaps best characterized as a piece of “folk art.” David G. Mitten