Nail Plate

Stratum II, palace (unconfirmed location)

Glazed terracotta

1931.154

Height (central shaft): 6.5 cm

Diam.: 28.0 cm

Thickness: 2.8 cm

Circular plate with central shaft. A wall plate would be affixed to a mudbrick wall by a single ceramic spike (see 1931.155). The face of the plate is a decorative element; here, it consists of a plain, raised inner surface (21.0 cm in diameter) and an outer ring with rounded knobs (c. 2.5 cm in diameter). All the decorative elements of this face retain faded green-blue glaze. The flat back of the plate and interior of the central shaft are unglazed, except for a few drips. Restored at the Fogg Museum in 2007.

Context

The Harvard Art Museum Archives reports that this wall plate was discovered in the Stratum II palace but provides neither room nor original field catalogue number. Therefore, this nail plate is one of the few objects from the Nuzi expeditions for which the specific findspot cannot be identified. Starr noted (1939, 409) rare examples of elaborate wall decorations, but he never published this object, probably because it was remarkably similar to item 30.1.145 (Starr 1937, pl. 98G). The published example appears complete, unlike this object, suggesting that these are two different objects.

Publications: None (compare Starr 1937, pl. 98G)

Original Field Catalogue Entry

Unknown