CIRCA LATE 4TH-3RD MILLENNIUM B.C.

The part-human and part-goat figurine is depicted kneeling with its proper right hoof lifted and with the other hoof against the chest. Comparisons with a group of small stone kneeling figurines in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (see SB 69), help date the work to the Proto-Elamite period. The designs of many Proto-Elamite cylinder seals show a variety of animals in human attitudes, such as partaking in daily life, playing games or hunting, cf. a seal impression from Susa with kneeling bulls, P. Amiet, La glyptique mésopotamienne archaïque, Paris, 1961, pl. 38: 587. The function of the anthropomorphic figures on the seals, as well as this example, remains uncertain. They possibly represented personifications of natural forces, but just as likely represented protagonists in myths, fables or even deities.
See acc. no. 59.14 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston for a silver mountain goat with a similar gold-plated face.