Gudea, "gushing vase"

This statue represents Gudea, who ruled south of Mesopotamia around 2120 BC He wears a long flax-fringed linen and a broad-brimmed cap which, like the crown in our civilization, signals the royal power.

The sovereign stands and carries in his hands a vase from which flow waves of fishy waves. Emblem of the fertility of fresh water, it is the traditional prerogative of the god Enki.

This theme of the vase from which exhilarating water comes out is often found in Mesopotamian mythology, perhaps reflecting the account of Genesis 2:10.