This bronze cast Applique in the shape of the Bust of Herakles is slightly hollow in the lower part. Given its semicircular outline, it is thought to have been part of a bed decoration (fulcrum).
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.
The statuette depicts a standing man, with a mask, which characterizes him as an actor. He is dressed in a large cloak. As it is usually the case at that time for terracotta examples, our figurine was molded in two parts, the front and the back.