Foundation figure of king Shulgi of Ur, carrying a basket

1955-56, excavated on behalf of the Joint Expedition to Nippur (Baghdad School of the American Schools of Oriental Research and The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago); acquired by the Museum in 1958, as a result of its financial contribution to the excavations (1957-58 season).

“Archaeology: Exploring the Past,” The Junior Museum of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, September 22, 1962–June 30, 1966.

“Curator’s Choice from the Ancient World.” The Newark Museum, New Jersey, January 31, 1968–June 16, 1968.

"Gudea of Lagash." The Detroit Institute of Arts, December 5, 1982–January 30, 1983.

"Five Thousand Years of Faces." Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, Washington, January 30-July 30, 1983.

“Founding Figures: Copper Sculptures from the Ancient Near East, ca. 3300-2000.” Morgan Library & Museum, New York, May 13, 2016–August 21, 2017.

Crawford, Vaughn E. 1960. "The Third Millennium B.C." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 18, Art of the Ancient Near East, p. 250, fig. 9.

Watts, Edith W. 1965. Archaeology: Exploring the Past. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 36.

Bodenstein, Beatrice E., Vaughn E. Crawford, Prudence O. Harper, Oscar W. Muscarella. 1966. Ancient Near Eastern Art: Guide to the Collections. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 13, fig. 18.

Budd, Dorothy M. 1968. Curator’s Choice from the Ancient World. Newark, New Jersey: Newark Museum, p. 6.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1972. Guide to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 45, fig. 5.

Peck, Elsie H., William H. Peck and Penelope Slough. 1982. Gudea of Lagash. exh. cat. Detroit: The Detroit Institute of Arts, cat. 8, p. 12.

Olbrantz, John, and Schlotterback, Thomas. Five Thousand Years of Faces, exh. cat. Bellevue: Bellevue Art Museum, p. 9.

Rashid, Subhi Anwar. 1983. “Grudunsfiguren im Iraq.” Prähistorische Bronzefunde, Abt. I, Band 2. Munich: Beck, no. 138, p. 30, pl. 29.

Harper, Prudence O. et al. 1984. "Ancient Near Eastern Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 41 (4), Spring 1984, p. 36, fig. 45.

Muscarella, Oscar W. 1988. Bronze and Iron: Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 305, no. 435.

Frayne, Douglas. 1997. Ur III Period (2112-2004 BC). Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Early Period 3 (2). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 128-30, no. 20.

Rakic, Yelena ed. 2010. Discovering the Art of the Ancient Near East: Archaeological Excavations Supported by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1931–2010. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 68 (1), Summer 2010, p. 10.

Benzel, Kim, Sarah B. Graff, Yelena Rakic, and Edith W. Watts. 2010. Art of the Ancient Near East: A Resource for Educators. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, fig. 23, pp. 37, 47-48.

Podany, Amanda H. 2022. Weavers, Scribes and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 192, fig. 7.5.