Rectangular Base of Statue with Feet and Lower Legs, from the series The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist

Skip to main content
© Michael Rakowitz. Image courtesy of the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton Colle…
Rectangular Base of Statue with Feet and Lower Legs, from the series The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist
© Michael Rakowitz. Image courtesy of the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College, Clinton, NY. Photo by John Bentham.
Artist/Maker (Iraqi-American, born 1973)
Date2020
MediumMiddle Eastern food packaging, Arabic-language U.S. newspapers, and glue, with accompanying didactic information
DimensionsOverall: 1 3/4 × 1 3/8 × 1 3/8 in. (4.4 × 3.5 × 3.5 cm)
Credit LinePurchase, William G. Roehrick '34 Art Acquisition and Preservation Fund
Object number2021.5.5
On view
DescriptionInventory number: Unknown Excavation number: Kh. IV 308 Provenance: Khafaje Dimension(s): 4.3 x 3 x 2.9 cm Material: Limestone Date: Early Dynastic II–III (ca. 2600–2400 bce) Description: Rectangular base of statue with feet and legs; dowel hole in center Status: Unknown We also have some good number of items seized in neighboring countries: 38 pieces in Kuwait, 18 in Saudi Arabia, 1,250 in Jordan, 360 in Syria. We have 300 in Italy and over 600 in the United States. They have surfaced in those countries and been seized by the authorities there. Our museum is very close to Haifa Street, where we have incidents almost daily. We believe this is not the right time now to have [the pieces] back. Since we know all about them and are promised them back whenever we want them, it is better to keep them in these countries. —Donny George

Additional Details

Exhibition History 2021
Clinton, NY (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College). MICHAEL RAKOWITZ: NIMRUD, October 19, 2020 - June 18, 2021.
Provenance 2021: Hamilton College (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art), by purchase from Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago.
Artwork is in the public domain. Image courtesy of the Ruth and Elmer Museum of Art at Hamilton…
Date: c. 883-859 BCE
Medium: Gypsum with remnants of red pigment
Object number: 1868.5
© Michael Rakowitz. Image courtesy of the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton Colle…
Michael Rakowitz
Date: 2020
Medium: Middle Eastern food packaging, Arabic-language U.S. newspapers, and glue, with accompanying didactic information
Object number: 2021.5.3
No Church Need Apply, from "Harper's Weekly"
Thomas Nast
Date: published May 8, 1875
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.282
Image courtesy of the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College, Clinton, NY. Pho…
Unknown artist, Roman (Ancient)
Date: 1st century
Medium: Drawn and tooled glass
Object number: 2015.6.36
Image courtesy of the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College, Clinton, NY. Pho…
Unknown artist, Roman (Ancient)
Date: 1st century
Medium: Drawn and tooled glass
Object number: 2015.6.44
Alpspitze, Mittenwald Road from Gschwandtnerbauer
Marsden Hartley
Date: c. 1933-34
Medium: Oil on cardboard
Object number: 1986.18
© Jamea Richmond-Edwards. Image Courtesy of Art+Culture Projects, Brooklyn, NY. For educational…
Jamea Richmond-Edwards
Date: 2018
Medium: Pigment print with silkscreen diamond dust and gold foil
Object number: 2020.1
Photograph by John Bentham.
Renée Stout
Date: 2008-10
Medium: Acrylic, latex paint, spray paint, plastic rhinestones, wood, glass, metal, varnish, collage, and found objects
Object number: 2016.2
Untitled, from the series "Zwarte Piet"
Anna Fox
Date: 1997, printed 2000
Medium: Chromogenic print
Object number: 2009.3
Photograph by John Bentham
Gaspard Duchange
Date: c. 1700
Medium: Engraving
Object number: 1995.59
© Elias Sime. Image courtesy of James Cohan Gallery.
Elias Sime
Date: 2016
Medium: Reclaimed electronic components and insulated wire on panel
Object number: 2017.2
The British Lion Disarmed, from "Harper's Weekly"
Thomas Nast
Date: published August 1, 1868
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.98