LATE URUK-JEMDET NASR PERIOD, CIRCA 3300-2900 B.C.

For a similar example, see no. 2b in A. Aruz, ed., Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus. As L. Martin notes (pp. 16-17 in Aruz, ed., op. cit.), many of these finely-sculptured figures of animals were likely votive offerings to the goddess Inanna. The clover-shaped lapis lazuli inlays may have been intended to suggest the animal’s hide.