Carved from a small limestone monolith, this statuette is certainly one of the first three-dimensional images of elephant in Near Eastern art; moreover, these large mammals were rarely represented in the rich animal iconography of this prominent culture.
Modeled from a small terracotta plaque, this figurine belongs to a large group of statuettes known as “pappadès”, because of their polos (a high cylindrical hat) that makes them look like Orthodox priests.
This face certainly represents a male figure; it shows some of the distinctive features of the Greek-Roman images known as “grotesque”, such as the big aquiline and pointed nose, the strongly marked, frowning eyebrows and the wrinkled forehead.