Historical Context
Editorially reviewedFoundation pegs of several shapes exist from the Early Dynastic period onward. The basket-bearer is the Lagash II-Ur III royal form: the king as brick-carrier, buried with a dedicatory inscription. Gudea's cylinders describe the rite; Ur-Namma and Shulgi supply the copper type-objects. Other peg subtypes (kneeling god, bull-in-reeds) are separate silhouettes. First-millennium royal basket scenes reuse the pose, not this buried peg class.
Provenance: Metropolitan Museum 47.49 (Ur-Namma, inscribed for Inanna); Metropolitan Museum 59.41.1 (Shulgi, Nippur). Distinct from British Museum 1974,0119.1 (Gudea bull-in-reeds peg).
Research status: reviewed · reviewed 02/09/2026
Sources
3 referencesMetropolitan Museum 47.49, foundation figure of Ur-Namma holding a basket
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 47.49. Foundation figure of Ur-Namma holding a basket. Copper alloy, Ur III, c. 2112-2095 BCE. Inscribed for a temple of Inanna. Gift of Mrs. William H. Moore, 1947. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Supports: Type-object for the basket-bearer peg; Ur-Namma, not Shulgi; Inanna dedication.
Metropolitan Museum 59.41.1, foundation figure of Shulgi carrying a basket
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 59.41.1. Foundation figure of king Shulgi of Ur, carrying a basket. Copper, Ur III, c. 2094-2047 BCE. Nippur. Rogers Fund, 1959. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Supports: Separate Shulgi peg from Nippur; keeps 47.49 and 59.41.1 from being collapsed into one king.
Ellis, Foundation Deposits in Ancient Mesopotamia
Ellis, Richard S. Foundation Deposits in Ancient Mesopotamia. Yale Near Eastern Researches 2. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968. See also Edzard, RIME 3/1 (Gudea Cylinder A, king carrying the basket); Frayne, RIME 3/2 (Ur-Namma / Shulgi foundation inscriptions). (Yale University Press)
Supports: Defines the Neo-Sumerian basket-bearer as a buried foundation figurine type, distinct from other peg subtypes and from later basket-bearing kings.
How to cite this page
Basket-Bearer Foundation Peg — Documented Sumerian Motif, Lagash II–Ur III. Sanctum Hex Vault. Reviewed 02/09/2026. https://vault.sanctumhex.com/symbols/historically-documented-sumerian-and-early-akkadian-visual-motif-types-from-southern-mesopotamia-c-3500-1800-bce-drawn-from-cylinder-seals-votive-plaques-temple-fittings-and-royal-standards-motif-types-only-exclude-modern-anunnaki-claims-invented-occult-seals-and-later-neo-assyrian-palace-types-presented-as-sumerian-basket-bearer-foundation-peg-documented-sumerian-motif-lagash-ii-ur-iii
https://vault.sanctumhex.com/symbols/historically-documented-sumerian-and-early-akkadian-visual-motif-types-from-southern-mesopotamia-c-3500-1800-bce-drawn-from-cylinder-seals-votive-plaques-temple-fittings-and-royal-standards-motif-types-only-exclude-modern-anunnaki-claims-invented-occult-seals-and-later-neo-assyrian-palace-types-presented-as-sumerian-basket-bearer-foundation-peg-documented-sumerian-motif-lagash-ii-ur-iiiObject
Basket-Bearer Foundation Peg — Documented Sumerian Motif, Lagash II–Ur III
A peg-shaped copper figurine of a shaven man carrying a brick-basket on his head: the Lagash II-Ur III royal foundation type, not a generic basket motif.
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