Nail Head of Warad-Sin

The focus of the very small, precise cuneiform characters of this large nail head is the renovation of the Dilmun Temple of the goddess Inanna (Ishtar) in Ur by Warad-Sin, ruler (lugal) of the city-state of Larsa. Warad-Sin hopes that the goddess will honor him with long-life and a long, secure reign. Although ruler of the city-state of Larsa, Warad-Sin claims control over a large territory, including the regions of Sumer and Akkad, and the cities of Nippur, Ur, Girsu, and Lagash (previously a rival city-state). Fewer than two dozen examples of this text are extant. Other examples of the text appear on the nail shafts, which may be an indication that the now-missing shaft of this nail was also inscribed.

Clay cones and nails were inscribed in the name of a ruler of a Mesopotamian city-state to commemorate an act of building or rebuilding, often of a temple for a specific deity. Deposited in the walls or under the foundations of these structures, the words of the texts were directed at the gods but would be found by later restorers. The text on the nail head of this example would have been visible if it had been driven into a wall like a nail.

Inscription

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Sadie Jones (Mrs. Henry Walters), New York, [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Sale, Joseph Brummer, New York, 1941, [Brummer inv. no. N5018]; Walters Art Museum, 1941, by purchase.