L’Œuvre en scène : « La Statue d’Ebih-Il »

Conférence présentée par Sophie Cluzan (musée du Louvre) et Camille Lecompte (CNRS), le 18 octobre 2023 à l’auditorium Michel-Laclotte.

« L’œuvre en scène » est un format unique en son genre qui invite à prendre le temps de regarder une antiquité, une peinture, un dessin, un objet d’art ou une sculpture sous tous les angles.
Pendant une heure, l’œuvre -installée sur la scène de l’auditorium- est analysée et décryptée en direct par un spécialiste.

Cette petite statue d’un personnage assis et en prière l’une des multiples « Jocondes » que le Louvre a à offrir. Ebih-Il nous interpelle aujourd’hui comme il le faisait déjà dans son temple il y a plus de quatre mille ans. Pourquoi ce regard bleu si pur et si profond nous fascine-t-il toujours autant ?

* Les intervenants :

– Sophie Cluzan est conservateur général du patrimoine au département des Antiquités orientales du musée du Louvre, archéologue et arabisante, responsable des collections de Syrie du Liban de Chypre et de la Palestine des origines à l’âge du Bronze. Le cours de ses travaux l’a également conduite à développer de nombreuses collaborations avec les pays du Proche-Orient assumant pour le musée du Louvre des programmes de coopération avec la Syrie avec le Liban et avec la Jordanie. Archéologue depuis 2006 elle est directeur de la mission du Louvre en Syrie sur des sites archéologiques de Damascène des 3e et 2e millénaires mission temporairement suspendue.
Elle est aussi membre de la mission archéologique de Mari et de la mission archéologique d’Ugarit deux sites majeurs des collections dont elle a la responsabilité. Ses travaux portent principalement sur l’archéologie contextuelle et religieuse des 3e et 2e millénaires avant
notre ère avec une attention particulière pour la reprise de la documentation ancienne issue notamment des fouilles du Louvre à Mari (André Parrot) de celles de Claude Schaeffer à Ugarit et à Enkomi et plus largement de la Syrie et du Levant. Enfin un des axes majeurs de ses travaux concerne la glyptique principalement royale et la relation qui s’établit entre image et histoire. Ce domaine l’a conduite à de nombreuses collaborations notamment à l’université de Yale.

– Camille Lecompte est chargé de recherche au CNRS (UMR 7041 Nanterre). Ses travaux portent principalement sur la Mésopotamie du 3e millénaire avant notre ère selon une approche philologique et historique. Il étudie plus particulièrement les textes archaïques d’Uruk (vers 3000 avant notre ère) et d’Ur (vers 2750 avant notre ère). En collaboration avec Sophie Cluzan il a consacré plusieurs études à la cité de Mari de l’époque dite de la Ville II notamment aux statues inscrites et à Ebih-Il. Il enseigne le sumérien à Sorbonne Université et à l’Institut Catholique.

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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Michel Laclotte auditorium at the Musée du Louvre. I am Laurence des Cars, President and Director of the Louvre, and I am delighted to welcome you here today for the launch of a new season of l’Œuvre en scène. As you are no doubt aware,

The Louvre is the only museum in the world to offer this very special lecture format, with the physical presence of one of its masterpieces on the auditorium stage. It’s a magnificent idea, a simple idea at first sight, but a magnificent idea with many developments,

That Michel Laclotte, my illustrious predecessor, launched as soon as this auditorium was created, nearly 32 years ago at the opening of the auditorium that today bears his name, at the time of the works on the Grand Louvre and the opening of the pyramid and all the spaces designed

By the immense American-Chinese architect Ieoh Ming Pei. So it’s a formula that has accompanied a cycle of conferences that has been going on for 32 years and that accompanies the life of the Louvre, the life of the Louvre’s collections,

The life of the Louvre’s curators and researchers who, of course, progress over time in their knowledge of the marvellous objects in our care. Today we’re launching a slightly new format for Œuvres en scène. I wanted us to remain faithful, in a way, to the DNA of this magnificent series,

With the presence of a masterpiece on the auditorium stage, but to accompany it and the lecturers and specialists in these works with richer features, particularly visually. You’ve seen this little opening film showing the meticulous moving of the statue of Ebih-Il, but you’ll see others, other arrivals, incursions

Of images and filmed images also in the presentations, so as to enrich our knowledge and our new way of looking at these works. It’s a more scenographic formula. You’ll also see this in the work on stage that we’re launching today.

You’ll see that we also wanted to theme the seasons of the work on stage. So you’re going to have three rounds of conferences And I encourage you, of course, to follow us throughout the year. Three series of lectures on the theme of the relationship between power and the sacred.

We begin with ancient Mesopotamia today and the marvellous masterpiece that is the statue of Ebih-Il But on 13 November, it will be the reliquary of the Holy Crown of Thorns. Designed by Viollet le Duc for Notre Dame,

It is currently on display in the exhibition devoted to the treasures of Notre-Dame and will therefore be taken out of the exhibition rooms and onto the auditorium stage, where we will plunge into the splendours of a Middle Ages

Revisited by the XIXᵉ century and by the goldsmiths and fertile imagination of Viollet le Duc. As a nineteenth-century admirer, I’m looking forward to it. And then, in January, there will be an object recently acquired by the Louvre, the model of the Holy Sepulchre complex,

Acquired for the new department, the Department of Byzantine and Oriental Christian Art. As you know, this department is currently under development and is due to open in late 2026 or early 2027.

So here again, we have a rare and precious object that we will discover and look at from every angle, because what we are proposing with Œuvre en Scène is a school for the eye, a school for the way we look that is available to everyone.

It’s a way of looking at things up close and personal, with cameras looking at the works under the guidance of our lecturers. To look at these works as closely as possible, to take account of the latest research

And the knowledge we have of them, of the context in which they were created, of the historical context in which they were created, and of the interpretations that are constantly developing and renewing themselves. A collection is never static, it is activated by constant research,

But also by the sensitivity of the people who see these works. It is this interplay of the eye and the work that is being played out on stage in the Louvre auditorium with this series. Today, we will be joined by two great specialists in ancient Mesopotamia

To take a new and different look at Ebih-Il. Sophie Cluzan is General Curator at the Department of Oriental Antiquities and a great specialist in the third and second millennia. So, in this world of ancient Mesopotamia, and particularly the site of the ancient city of Mari,

She will be accompanied by Camille Lecomte who is an epigrapher, a researcher at the CNRS, and a specialist in statues, inscribed specifically on the site of Mari. So these two great specialists are going to help you take another look, a better look at Ebih-Il,

And of course we all hope that in a few hours’ time Ebih-Il will return to the rooms of the Department of Oriental Antiquities and will once again be on display for visitors to the Louvre.

Well, those of you who have attended this conference will no longer look at it in quite the same way, and you will be sharing your passion for this absolutely marvellous object, one of the finest ambassadors of ancient Mesopotamia in the Louvre.

I’d like to finish by thanking the whole team behind this new version of the work on stage. Valentine Gay as producer, Johan Lesage, Alexis Assaleix and Cindy Raimond as directors, Alex Reboux as sound engineer, Didier Degros as lighting designer and Axelle Onbade as broadcaster.

Thank you very much, because I know that this is a huge amount of preproduction and preparation. And without you, of course, this event would not be possible. I’d like to finish by thanking Barthélemy Glama, who works in the office of the President of the Louvre

And is responsible for programming and coordinating this new cycle, the Œuvre en scène. So I’ll leave you now with Sophie Cluzan and … forgive me, and Camille Leconte. For rediscovering the statue of Ebih-Il, welcome back to the Michel Laclotte auditorium

And welcome to the Louvre. In general, thank you very much. The statue of Ebih-Il was sculpted around 2400 BC by the talented hands of an artist who, from a block of alabaster of exceptional quality,

Created a work that is now considered not only to be the most accomplished representation of Mesopotamian votive statuary of the third millennium, but also as a timeless masterpiece, a creation that is both attractive and intriguing in the way it engages our gaze,

But above all a work that is capable of initiating and sustaining an extremely sensitive dialogue around feelings and wonder, the dialogue established by religion in the sense of that which connects us to that which transcends us.

The luminous intensity of the blue of Ebih-Il’s eyes and his gaze, both inspired and powerful, capture and hold our attention, while his slight smile, barely hinted at, expresses joy and gladness. Ebih-Il looks wide-eyed, astonished, and opens his eyes to invite us to share and learn.

The power and hold exerted by this famous gaze is certainly the result of the use of coloured materials : the deep, sparkling blue of lapis lazuli and the luminous white of marine shell whose beauty is underlined by the black line that surrounds them, like a lighthouse or kohl.

But this power and the hold it inspires is also, and above all, the result of the technique and inventiveness of an exceptional sculptor who has mastered the art of setting, lighting, expression and staging. Ebih-Il is looking at us,

But in this face-to-face encounter, we find it hard to meet his gaze, which is actually rising up and reaching a dimension beyond us. The profile of Ebih-Il’s eyes reveals the ingenuity of the technical means used by the sculptor to produce this impression.

The outside of the irises has not been positioned vertically, as human morphology would dictate, but discreetly at an angle. The lower part is slightly projected forward, which, seen from the front, has the effect of lifting the gaze upwards, towards this upper space. In addition, the shell of the sclera,

i.e. the white of the eye, has been cut away, leaving a few facets on the outside to allow the light to play around this deep blue gaze. The statue of Ebih-Il is 52.5 cm high, 20.6 cm wide and 30 cm thick. Ebih-Il is seated upright. He is bare-chested.

The nipples are suggested by two small, high, slightly protruding circular areas. Which I’ll show you here. From these rounded shoulders come very long arms that stand out smoothly from the torso thanks to the inflection given to their outer line, which also accentuates the figure’s build.

The elbows are thrown to either side of the body and the forearms, also very long, are brought obliquely towards the front of the torso. The hands, with their tapered fingers, are wrapped in a spiral. The left hand is inside the right hand at the navel.

Two lines are incised on a hammered area. Ebih-Il is dressed in a petticoat covering the lower part of his body, like a fleece made up of a succession of locks running from top to bottom and staggered on the front in seven rows.

The strands of this garment, known as ‘Kaunakès’, are finely chiselled and their supple undulation, played on by the light, produces an impression of extreme softness. Towards the front, the petticoat is deliberately amplified, as if to emphasise, or even exaggerate, its thickness and richness,

Which is also particularly noticeable when the statue is viewed from the front. Behind the upper edge of the petticoat and slightly offset to the left. a sort of pom-pom that also falls back and is wavy like an animal’s fleece or tail.

Ebih-Il is seated on a smooth circular cake, with a few ancient chips. The seat rests on 18 rows of tied rushes meticulously carved by the sculptor, as in certain places on the figure’s body, the yellow colour in this seat is found

in the interstices of the basketry and the stool, and I’ll show you some of it here, here’s an example. Ebih-Il appears before us, bald and bearded. The ears are exposed in relief, showing that he has paid close attention to human morphology.

The beard collar grows from the figure’s temples and descends following a neat outline. It covers the bottom of the cheeks, then curves down to meet the chin, which it emphasises. This facial hair is made up of twice five groups of wavy locks distributed symmetrically

On either side of a median line corresponding to the middle of the chin. The two central strands end in loops that curl towards each other, creating a double centripetal spiral. On either side of Ebih-Il’s neck, four locks also end in curls.

All along the beard, deep, oval cavities punctuate and underline the undulations of the locks. The depth of these cavities is visually enhanced by the addition of black material. Ebih-Il’s beard is oval-shaped, echoing the perfect oval of his face and skull. Ebih-Il’s lips are both finely hemmed and expressive,

Drawing a certain smile that is underlined by the tension of his cheeks, accentuating the cheekbones. This smile is also emphasised by the curve of the beard, which follows the line of the figure’s lower lip. The nostrils are finely sculpted and open,

their hollows playing on the transparency of the alabaster to give the illusion of the breath penetrating them. The nose is aquiline and prominent, but treated with a certain gentleness. Like many of its Mari and Ebih-Il congeners, whose eyebrows are deeply incised and mono-browed

i.e. the eyebrows meet at the birth of the nose, the remains of a black material can be seen. These eyebrow arches are particularly high and open, finely sculpted to play on the transparency of the alabaster. They enhance the intensity of the figure’s wide-eyed gaze, brightening and widening it.

Ebih-Il’s gaze and smile express communicative feelings. Thus conceived in all its radiant perfection, the statue of Ebih-Il is performative. It acts, expressing a form of catharsis, a manifestation of powerful emotional pleasure. In return, it provokes catharsis in the viewer. Ebih-Il, an exceptional statue.

One of the jewels in our museum’s Department of Oriental Antiquities actually belongs to the goddess Ishtar. Ishtar, patron of royalty, war and victory, who reigns supreme over the hearts of sovereigns. Daughter of the great god of the Moon, Sîn, the organiser of time,

Ishtar regulates the order of the world below. In her divine mission, The kings are the armed arms of this earthly order and maintain a relationship of fear and love with the goddess. The inscription on the top of the right shoulder

Indicates that the statue was intended to be dedicated to a deity in a temple, so it was a votive statue. The inscription, which is very short, in keeping with the custom of donating votive objects at the time, translates as follows:

” His statue ‘Ebih-Il’ (occupying the position of) nu-banda to Ishtar Virile, he offered it “. The inscription follows a model or form, i.e. a set of expressions found in the corpus of engraved votive statues. This model generally includes the name of the person dedicating the statue.

The term ‘statue’, the name of the deity and the expression of the offering. The inscription is written in what is known as cuneiform script, a system invented during the fourth millennium, well before Ebih-Il in Mesopotamia. It is a form of writing based both on ideograms, i.e. signs representing ideas,

And syllabograms, signs that refer to syllables and enable the pronunciation of a term to be reconstructed. The inscription on the Ebih-Il statue is a perfect illustration of how this graphic system works. The inscription is written in Akkadian, a Semitic language like Arabic or Hebrew,

Which was spoken between the third and first millennia BC. It does, however, use so-called ideographic signs inherited from the Sumerian language. When deciphering a cuneiform text, it is customary first to give the value of the signs in Latin characters and then to translate.

We can follow this principle here and read this short inscription in full. On the first line there is only one sign which, in Akkadian, is pronounced “ṣalmum”: ‘Statue’. This obviously refers to the object being dedicated. The second line shows the name of the person depicted.

The line contains the signs “EN TI IL”. There are two possible interpretations of these signs. In cuneiform writing, there are combinations of signs that give a specific value that differs from the reading of the two signs in question. Thus “EN” and “TI” when they are together

Can be read as “ebih” but not necessarily syllabically as “en-ti”. The sign ‘IL’, on the other hand, is syllabic, meaning that it is read for its phonetic value, i.e. ‘IL’. The name of the individual represented is then ‘Ebih-Il’.

That’s how sociologist François Thureau-Dangin read it in 1934, and that’s how we’ve known it ever since. However, some authors have suggested that all the signs should be read as “EN TI IL” like “EN DI IL” which can be rendered as “Iddin-ilum”a frequent Akkadian proper name

borne by many individuals in Mesopotamia at all periods. The third line contains the signs “NU BANDA” which is a Sumerian title. For slightly more recent times. It has been translated as ‘captain’, ‘overseer’, but we’ll see that this doesn’t necessarily suit our character.

The fourth line contains the name of the deity to whom the statue is dedicated. In the order ‘AN, MUSH, NITA’, the ‘AN’ sign, which represents a star, is not pronounced but indicates the nature of what is written, namely a divinity.

“MUSH” stands for “Inanna-Ishtar” the famous goddess of love and war, and “NITA” for “mâle” : ‘one of these figures’. She can be considered a ‘virile Ishtar’. One of the representations of these masculine and warrior attributes. The fifth line the act of offering “SAG RIG” which is in fact a rendition

Of the Acadian “sharâkum”: ‘to offer’. Ebih-Il thus dedicated his statue to Ishtar some 4,300 years ago in Mari on the banks of the Euphrates, an ancient city and kingdom now located beneath the Hariri altar in Syrian territory.

In the sacred precincts of Ishtar, the representative of Ebih-Il now belongs to the goddess. According to more recent texts, after completion, the statue was separated from its creator, the sculptor, by a rite in which his hands were symbolically cut off.

This rite affirms and guarantees the living character of the statue Which at the moment of the offering, becomes the representative of the person and is endowed with magical powers that it will exercise before the divinity. A breath of life is at the heart of the statue.

In the temple, this representative enters another world and another time, and it is in these two new dimensions that she will operate and perform her functions. This world is a space where natures coexist, the divine and omnipotent nature of the divinity

And the human and dependent nature of all the people represented in the temple. A king, an elder, women from the court, musicians, men and couples are there, arriving before, after or at the same time as Ebih-Il. All together, these doubles form a timeless society,

A mirror of society past, present and future. In the temple, Ebih-Il deploys his presence and maintains an exchange outside time and space with the divine power. He experiences the temporality of the sacred and the immanence of divinity. Outside, Ebih-Il pursues his human life of finitude.

But he longs for his double to call down upon him the benefits of divinity. Ebih-Il looks at Ishtar with such intensity, spiritual elevation, insistence and rapture that the goddess cannot ignore his presence and actively asks him to enter into a subtle mise en abyme.

To look in order to be looked at, to be dazzled in order to dazzle, to rejoice in order to rejoice and to be alive over time. The statue fulfils its role. Its gaze is the expression of a process that leads Ebih-Il to encounter and wonder,

And is supposed to arouse wonder in the mirror goddess, or at the very least awaken her gaze, so that by attaching herself to him, she includes him in the circle of her favours and grants him her protection.

Ebih-Il’s sparkling gaze is not a style or a mere aesthetic quality. It is the expression of an intense visual, mystical and ecstatic experience. It is a manifestation of spirituality. This representation, like that of the kingdom of Mari in general, teaches us that the religion of the time,

As it was intended to be seen as a path of aesthetic and religious experience, a path of knowledge, exchange and joy in reciprocity. Ebih-Il therefore belongs to the category of objects venerated in the temples of the Syro-Mesopotamian kingdoms of the Archaic Dynastic period,

Which lasted from around 2900 to 2300 BC. Ebih-Il vowed a statue in accordance with the religious and social customs of the period, which was marked by the development of pantheons, as shown on the map, spread over a vast geographical area from north to south.

Mari was the kingdom with the largest number of votive statues. When Ebih-Il had his statue consecrated in the temple of Ishtar. The city of Mari was already some 500 years old. It was founded ex nihilo around 2900 on the banks of the Euphrates,

In a position that enabled it to control river traffic. At the time of Ebih-Il, Mari was undoubtedly the northern capital of Mesopotamia, deriving wealth and geopolitical power from its control over the Euphrates. At the time of Ebih-Il Mari pays particular attention to votive offerings.

The town has often been described as a school of art. However, even in Mari, Ebih-Il remains an exception both artistically and iconographically. Seated and with his hands wrapped around him, Ebih-Il belongs to an extremely rare category of statues: seated male statues

In temples in general, and at Mari in particular, men are depicted standing, hands clasped, in a walking position, left foot forward. Ebih-Il is one of the very few exceptions to this rule, with only one example in the temple of Ishtar, the Temple of Ebih-Il.

There are two or three others in the rest of the sanctuaries of Mari, which, compared with the number of male statues found in Mari and contemporary with Ebih-Il, represents less than 3% of the corpus. The statue of Ebih-Il is exceptional in many ways, and has been regarded as such since Antiquity.

Its ancient material, workmanship and restoration underline its uniqueness. Recent research has enabled us to understand it better. In what follows, we cite the findings of the team from the Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France,

Who carried out a range of examinations at different scales, used several imaging techniques including X-rays and a 3D scanner, and carried out physical and chemical analyses of the materials. The observations and analyses carried out by Yvan Coquinot

Have confirmed that the stone in the statue is gypsum alabaster, a rock often used in sculpture because it is cohesive, meaning that it is not brittle but easy to sculpt, soft and sometimes translucent, as we show you here by changing the lighting.

This alabaster comes from a formation that outcrops over a vast geographical area, as illustrated here. In red hatching on a white background. The stone in the statue of Ebih-Il therefore comes either from the immediate region of Mari,

Or from regions that correspond at least in part to the territory covered by the city. For the Kingdom of Mari, therefore, this is not a stone that could be described as exotic. On the other hand, the quality of this alabaster is exceptional in terms of purity and colour,

Revealing the care taken in selecting the material. Today, the statue of Ebih-Il has a beige hue due to a patina of weathering acquired during its period of burial. The original colour of the alabaster was different, closer to grey-white,

As can be seen from certain areas that were sanded down after the discovery during a cleaning process that resulted in the patina disappearing. I’m going to show you an area here where you can see these areas that are whiter

And correspond to these cleaning areas, whereas we have this beautiful beige patina on the rest of the statue. The white, rough areas on the right shoulder and in other parts of the statue are probably due to alteration of the stone during burial.

Numerous modern fillings are visible on the neck, arms and elbows. The body and head were broken just before burial. They were found separately and glued back together after discovery. On the arms and elbows. Cracks and breaks have led to restorations,

Demonstrating the fragility of the statue since its emergence from the ground. The X-ray campaign led by Elsa Lambert highlights the importance of the dowels holding the various parts of the statue together at the neck, arms and elbows. This device is the result of consolidation work

Carried out after the discovery, but we are unable to date it. At the same time, Charolotte Hochart and Nicolas Mélard carried out a tracing study using visual observation and 3D digitisation. The precision of the measurements, less than 20 microns, means that micro-reliefs on the surface can be recorded,

Providing information about the production of the object, and in particular the chronology of the different phases in its production. The study focused on a number of areas, including the navel, where this previously unpublished detail of two incised lines can be found.

Micro-stratigraphy indicates that these two crossed lines are deep and that they are the result of a later, targeted gesture, distinct from those that produced the rest of the traces visible around it, which have a more worn appearance. The two incised lines are therefore traces of an intentional intervention

Made after the statue was made and finished. The digitisation of the eyebrow area, meanwhile, revealed traces of precise gestures, demonstrating the attention paid to detail, particularly in this essential area that frames and emphasises the eyes. As the images show, the eyebrows, whose curvature is very meticulous,

Were dug out several times to deepen the furrow. At the top edge. Engravings made with short, repeated strokes in the direction of the eyebrows frame the deep furrow. These intentional engravings were intended to soften the geometric appearance of the grooves and give them a natural, organic look.

While the alabaster of Ebih-Il can be considered to be of local or regional origin, on the other hand the materials used for the eye inlays are of distant origin. These is imported materials, so exotic compared to the kingdom of Mari.

The iris of the eyes is cut from lapis lazuli, a blue stone native to Afghanistan, set in a sclera itself cut from a piece of marine shell from the shores of the Persian Gulf. The whole is held together by bitumen, a natural derivative of petroleum,

Outcrops of which can be found in the Syro-Mesopotamian region visited by Mari. A photo from the time of the discovery, top right, shows Ebih-Il’s left eye before the iris was glued back into the sclera. In 1995, this same iris became detached when the bitumen lost its adhesion.

The restoration work undertaken by Véronique Picur made it possible to observe the ocular cavity, shown here bottom right, filled with bitumen. The eyes are made from elements that fit into a cavity that has been dug out beforehand and filled with bitumen.

A shell sclera, itself dug out of a cavity that has been brushed with bitumen, holds a cone cut from lapis lazuli. On Ebih-Il, the bitumen extends beyond the ocular cavity to fully outline the eyes and reinforce the figure’s gaze.

The analyses carried out by Anne-Solenn Le Hô, Yannick Vandenberghe and Yvan Coquinot also focused on the possible detection of traces of ancient polychromy on a statue that now appears white and blue. Numerous clues scattered all over the statue suggested its existence.

We will mention just three here. The most visible to the naked eye. Firstly, a yellow colour that covers different areas of the statue. It’s particularly present, as we’ve seen in the hollows of the seat and in the neck on the right, where you can see the thinness.

I think it’s clearly visible on the screen. Analysis has shown that it is goethite, a yellow iron oxide. This composition alone does not allow us to determine the dating of the ancient or modern layer. However, analysis of the stratigraphy of the areas where it is found

Clearly indicates that it is a modern addition. In fact, in the areas observed, there is first of all the soil sediment, i.e. the remains of the burial, covered by a second, micro-crystalline gypsum, formed in the soil during the burial, and finally by the yellow layer.

It is therefore chronologically later than the life of the statue in the ground. This is not ancient polychromy. The second area of study for polychromy was the remains of black material in the large incisions in Ebih-Il’s eyebrows.

Analysis of the material did not reveal any traces of ancient polychromy. It may be the remains of bitumen, as found in all the eyebrows of the votive statues of Mari, which were inlaid with lapis lazuli. Here are a few examples on the screen.

To proceed, following our discovery of Ebih-Il We ask all our colleagues with golden hands, gloved in white, to kindly lay the statue down. For our part, while following the movement on the screen. We’ll gradually take advantage of this to concentrate on Ebih-Il’s beard.

And we’ll take advantage of the camera movement to admire the subtle spiral winding of Ebih-Il’s hands. A gesture that is certainly symbolic, but here it is imbued with a gentleness that adds to the overall quality of the statue.

Ebih-Il’s beard and the remnants of the black material contained in the cavities underlining these undulations constitute the third area of interest for detecting possible traces of ancient polychromy. X-ray fluorescence, combined with samples taken under binoculars, have determined the composition of this black material. These are manganese oxides.

Observations also indicated that these oxides were caught in gypsum recrystallisation crystals. Recrystallisation occurs during burial. These oxides, which were therefore present in the beard before it was buried, now show that it is indeed the remains of an ancient polychrome.

The use of this black material to emphasise the blackness of Ebih-Il’s hair can also be seen under the beard, which has been treated in a refined grid pattern that shows the sculptor’s extreme attention to detail, even in areas that are not directly accessible to the eye,

Such as the front of the beard, the remains are composed of manganese oxide. Ebih-Il therefore stands out for the many features and details of its execution, iconography and expression. The exceptional nature of this work is also evident from the detailed study of its materials,

Which demonstrates the care with which it was restored in Antiquity. Let’s take a look at the evidence for this. The first clue is twofold. Firstly, the tied straw rushes that make up Ebih-Il’s stool

Are not shown at the front of the statue and here you have the line of rupture, the line of fine details of these rushes and ligatures. Secondly, in this area in front of the seat, which is devoid of sculpted detail,

There are traces of chisels that have cut very deeply into the stone. Many of the marks are evidence of the sculptor’s shaping work. The combination of these two observations is astonishing, given the extreme quality of the statue and the sustained attention to detail elsewhere in its manufacture and finishing.

Here, we would expect the surface to have been completely treated after roughing, particularly in this front part of the object. If they were made to be visible. Second clue: the bottom of the curved seat has a large horizontal notch, here,

Which was made after the statue was completed. The saw marks, which are clearly visible on the inside, have cut into the pattern of the seat here, here. The third clue: is that under the petticoat, there are significant saw marks made after the object was completed,

But before two large circular cavities were dug after a preparatory drawing using iron oxide, and here you have a line of them. There is also a perforation under the seat of Ebih-Il.

The fourth clue: is that the two legs found near the statue are carved from a different alabaster that does not come from the same block as the statue itself. One of them still has the heel of the figure perforated.

These legs were designed to fit into the two cavities under the petticoat, where they were held in place with adhesive. Fifth clue: Although the statue of Ebih-Il is particularly well preserved, there is a large old chip in the lower left of the front of its petticoat.

In this case, the chip is the result of an accident at the front of the statue. Taken together, these observations make it possible to reconstruct the history of the sculpture and its ancient restoration. The first stage, shown here in the top left-hand corner,

Corresponds to the sculptor’s extraction of the figures, stools and pedestals from a single block of alabaster. According to the usual method of the time. This method of extraction explains why the details could not be represented at the front of the seat.

The artist’s chisels and polishers could not reach this area, which was rendered inaccessible by the presence of the legs. As a result, the surface remains marked by the traces of the stone removal work between the back of the calves and the seat.

The second stage is the one that led to the need to restore the statue. The development of Ebih-Il’s petticoat created a major imbalance, shifting the statue’s point of gravity so that it naturally tilted forwards.

This tilting caused the most fragile part of the object, the ankles, to break. The old chip at the bottom of the petticoat probably also bears witness to this event. The third stage is the actual restoration of the antique. This involved a series of highly sophisticated steps,

The chronology of which, analysed and discussed with restorer Sabine Kessler, can be summarised as follows: Firstly, the broken parts, i.e. the legs or what was left of them, were sawn off, an operation to which the traces we saw under the petticoat bear witness.

Following these operations, the reconstruction of new legs and the general rebalancing of the statue were considered from two angles. For the legs, an interlocking system was designed using an iron oxide-based pigment, the restorer first marked out the central area of the petticoat

Where he intended to insert the new limbs, which were cut from a different stone. Two deep, parallel cavities were then cut in this area to insert the new legs. Under the heel of the new legs, a perforation is used to hold them in the new base.

The rebalancing involved cutting out the wide notch at the bottom of the seat to fit a new base. The whole unit was then positioned on this new base, which was held in place by studs in the heels and seat.

The last drawing, bottom right, shows the statue as it came to us. The engraving of the Ebih-Il inscription also bears witness to the care taken in creating the statue, adding to what makes it an exceptional work. Indeed, compared with other votive statues,

The inscription of Ebih-Il is characterised by its soft shapes and the roundness of the signs. The inscription also has a certain finesse to its lines, which is quite unique in Mari’s corpus and can be seen in the shallowness and lightness of the lines of the signs.

The sign “IL” which is made up of a straight leg and a bent leg and which is shown on the screen is representative of these palaeographic discrepancies. For example in the name of the sovereign “Iblul-Il” mentioned in the inscription of another statue

That appears in the top right-hand corner with a photograph The sign “IL” has a more geometric outline with nails that stand out more clearly. The statue of Ebih-Il is therefore exceptional in many respects, from its rather unusual seated posture to its powerful, sparkling gaze,

its high-quality materials, the refined details of its construction and inscription, and the sophistication of its antique restoration. These observations raise the question of the real personality of Ebih-Il, who called himself “NU BANDA” which is conventionally translated as “captain” or “steward”.

in Mari in the time of Ebih-Il, we find various figures bearing the same title of “NU BANDA”. In particular those in charge of the city walls, those who perform a key function for a city but also another individual called “Kin-uri” who also sees a statue.

In the southern cities which were more Sumerian from the same period. The title “NU BANDA” could designate people of various ranks: captains or men in charge but also first-rank administrators gravitating in the royal sphere. These clues suggest that Ebih-Il may have held a high and important social position.

“Ishgi-Mari” and “Ebih-Il” a king of husbands and a “NU BANDA” were found in the temple of Ishtar close to each other in the ruins of the building destroyed around 2300 by the Akkad empire during its expansion to the north and west. Ebih-Il received a mark on his navel.

Micro-topography studies indicate that this was done after the statue was first used. The forehead of ‘Ishgi-Mari’ the king was also marked by a later operation. Two deeply incised and intersecting lines cut into it. Our study of numerous contemporary statues has revealed the existence of this practice of marking statues.

A gesture that may have taken different forms. Here, two deeply incised lines intersect. In the temple, the statue is the property of the god. Its role there is permanent, unless an event makes it necessary to deactivate it, to signify its death,

Or even to abhor or relegate it both it and the person it represents. Regardless of how these marks are interpreted respectful deactivation, execration, respectful or unrespectful relegation, or an indication that the object has reached the end of its life they have an impact on the dating of the characters.

In fact, deactivation, execution or end of life occurred before the destruction of the kingdom of Mari. This means that the statue of Ebih-Il, while still attached to the goddess in her temple, was probably no longer active when the kingdom fell to Akkad.

Questions remain as to who Ebih-Il really was and why was his statue deactivated like that of King Ishgi-Mari? It is still difficult to answer these questions with any certainty. They remain at the heart of our research. Archaeologist André Parrot found Ebih-Il on 22 and 23 January 1934,

first his head and then his body. On the same day, near he unearths the statue of Ishgi-Mari and learns, from the inscription incised on the king’s shoulder, that he has just begun excavating a mythical city: “Mari”. and that he is making progress inside the temple of the goddess Ishtar.

Ishgi-Mari and Ebih-Il offer two complementary satisfactions that of penetrating the history of a fabulous kingdom and than, no less, of penetrating its religion and the power of art placed at the service of the expression of feelings. Having arrived five weeks earlier on a reconnaissance mission at the request of the Louvre,

Looking at Ebih-Il, André Parrot knew that he had just unearthed masterpieces of ancient Oriental statuary. But above, all a man of religion, he immediately understood what lay behind Ebih-Il’s ecstasy. At the end of the mission, on 17 March 1934, in accordance with the law on Syrian antiquities,

The excavator proposed a sharing of the finds in which he hoped to welcome Ebih-Il to France, to the Louvre Museum. Ebih-Il arrived at our museum in November 1934, along with Ishgi-Mari, the king, and Iddin-Narum, the elder, who was also found nearby. They are on their way to the Aleppo Museum.

From 2400 BC, under the eyes of Ishtar, to those of André Parrot in 1934, to those of today and tomorrow in the Louvre Museum. The living double of Ebih-Il is still performing his function. Even today, Ebih-Il stops his guests from all over the world,

Regardless of their origin or culture, He surprises them, makes them smile and transports them into this infinite time of happiness and knowledge. What brings us together around Ebih-Il, this artistic and spiritual masterpiece, is exactly what he was created to do: to be active and performative.

His statue does what it was designed to do. To meet, to get to know, to feel, to be amazed and to initiate dialogue. Ebih-Il sketches a slight smile. He has achieved his goal. We would like to thank all those who have worked with us

To bring you the current state of knowledge on a masterpiece which, although recognised as such since 1934, had paradoxically remained outside the scope of research. As for you, dear audience, on behalf of the entire Louvre team. We thank you for coming today and for your attention to Ebih-Il,

Who will undoubtedly have more revelations to tell us. Thank you very much.