Collections: Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art: Syrian Statuette of the God Shamash

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Syrian Statuette of the God Shamash

Shamash, a Near Eastern sun god, is shown seated. His helmet is decorated in relief with horns and topped by a sun disk, which may have been copied from representations of Egyptian solar deities. Shamash’s fine features and full, pointed beard are typically Syrian; his eyes were once inlaid. His arms are bent forward, with the hands partially preserved. He wears a mantle with a thick border over a kilt with a fringed hem.


• Medium: Copper
• Place Made: Syria
• Dates: ca. 1700-1600 B.C.E.
• Dimensions: 5 5/16 in. (13.5 cm)
• Collections: Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art
• Museum Location: This item is on view in Egypt Reborn: Art for Eternity, Ancient Middle Eastern Art, The Hagop Kevorkian Gallery, 3rd Floor
• Accession Number: 1995.27
• Credit Line: Purchased with funds given by Shelby White, the Ella C. Woodward Memorial Fund, and the Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
• Image: Front, 1995.27_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
Syrian Statuette of the God Shamash, ca. 1700-1600 B.C.E. Copper, 5 5/16 in. (13.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by Shelby White, the Ella C. Woodward Memorial Fund, and the Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 1995.27 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1995.27_SL1.jpg)
• Catalogue Description: Seated statuette of male figure; wearing horned helmet (horned in bold relief) capped by sun-disk, calf-length mantle with heavy rolled border and fringed hem; extending arms forward (left hand badly eroded; right hand gone); face with long shallowly arching eyebrows, long almond-shaped eyes (left-eye preserves traces of original inlay), short hooked nose, small horizontal mouth, full pointed beard extending onto cheeks; deep cavity in chest apparently deliberate and not result of faulty casting.