Statue (Ram in the Thicket)

CBS Register: U.12357. Goat of gold, silver, lapis, shell, in the round, standing in a gold bush, on mosaic pavement.

Small figural furnishing found with a near duplicate in grave 1237 in the Royal Cemetery at Ur. Though colloquially known as the ‘Ram in the Thicket’ it more accurately depicts a goat standing on its back legs to feed on leaves in a tree. The goat is formed of shell, lapis, and gold originaly formed over a wood and bitumen core. It was crushed flat by the weight of some nine meters of soil above it and had to be painstakingly restored.