Collection online

wall panel / relief

• Object type

  • wall panel
  • relief

• Museum number

  124579

• Description

  Gypsum wall panel depicting a lion hunt in relief: the archer shooting a bow wears a diadem with two bands hanging down behind. This kind of diadem encircled the royal hat, but the later king Ashurnasirpal II is sometimes shown wearing it on its own; otherwise it is worn by the crown prince, so this figure may be Ashurnasirpal II or his son and heir, Shalmaneser III. The borders of the royal garments are decorated with a pattern of hexagonals with annules inside them, rectangles and fringe. A double sheath in the archer's belt holds a dagger and whetstone. There is a spare arrow in his hand, and axes in addition to arrows in the quivers on the side of the chariot. His bow-string is not fully represented: it would have run inelegantly across his face. The chariot is typical of its period, and is pulled by three horses.

  It was a familiar convention in Assyrian art to show a fallen enemy or victim beneath the horses drawing the victor's chariot. Here a lion has been hit by three arrows. The composition is incomplete, and we may envisage another lion further to the right.

  There are traces of the standard inscription at the top of the panel.

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• Authority

  • Ruler: Ashurnasirpal II

• Culture/period

  • Neo-Assyrian

• Date

  • 875BC-860BC

• Findspot

  • Excavated/Findspot: North West Palace, West Wing, possibly Room WM
  • (Asia,Iraq,North Iraq,Nimrud (Kalhu),North West Palace)

• Materials

  • gypsum

• Technique

  • relief

• Dimensions

  • Height: 98 centimetres
  • Width: 139.5 centimetres
  • Thickness: 13 centimetres (extant)
  • Thickness: 23 centimetres (overall)

• Inscriptions

  • • Inscription Type

      inscription

    • Inscription Script

      cuneiform

    • Inscription Position

      top of panel

    • Inscription Comment

      Standard inscription describing the kings achievements.

• Curator's comments

  The lion hunt has special significance in ancient Mesopotamia. Even before 3000 BC 'royal' figures are shown killing lions, and the Assyrian royal seal itself represented this theme, with the king on foot confronting a lion face to face. The Mesopotamian lion, now extinct, was somewhat smaller than the more familiar African lion, but it was still a formidable opponent. Lions represented the wild force of nature which it is the king's duty of control, and it seems that at some stage there developed a rule that the killing of lions was reserved for royalty alone.

  See also BM.124590The cast is listed as available in the British Museum Facsimile Service 'Catalogue of Replicas from British Museum collections' (n.d.), in the series "Assyrian Bas-Reliefs". Reverse of surviving plaster cast at BH dated 1960 and initialed RWB.

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• Bibliography

  • Curtis & Tallis 2012 31
  • Curtis J E & Reade J E 1995a 5
  • Curtis J E & Reade J E 1994a 5
  • Paley & Sobolewski 1987 p. 76, pl. 5
  • Reade 1985 p.211, pl. XLIV.b
  • Budge E A W 1914 pl. XLII.1 & LIII.6
  • British Museum 2011a pp.104-105, cat.69
  • Grayson, RIMA 2 RIM.A.0.101.23.55
  • Layard A H 1849b vol. II, 74-78

• Exhibition history

  Exhibited:

  2012 24 May - 30 Sep, London, BM, 'The horse: from Arabia to Royal Ascot'

  2011 28 March-26 June, Abu Dhabi, Manarat Al Saadiyat, 'Splendours of Mesopotamia'
  2008-2009 21 Sept-4 Jan, Boston, MFA, 'Art and Empire'
  2007 2 Apr-30 Sept, Alicante, MARQ Museum, 'Art and Empire'
  2006 1 Jul-7 Oct, Shanghai Museum, 'Art and Empire'
  1991 9 Mar-7 May, Japan, Osaka, National Museum of Art, Treasures of the British Museum, cat. no.39
  1991 5 Jan-20 Feb, Japan, Yamaguchi, Prefectural Museum of Art, Treasures of the British Museum, cat. no.39
  1990 20 Oct-9 Dec, Japan, Tokyo, Setagaya Art Museum, Treasures of the British Museum, cat. no.39
  1990 28 Jun-23 Sep, Australia, Melbourne, Museum of Victoria, Civilization: Ancient Treasures from the British Museum, cat no.8
  1990 24 Mar-10 Jun, Australia, Canberra, National Gallery of Australia, Civilization: Ancient Treasures from the British Museum, cat no.8

• Conservation

  See treatments 

  •  August 2010 –  
  •  August 1994 –  

  About these records 

• Subjects

  • charioteer/chariot
  • king/queen
  • crown
  • mammal
  • arms/armour

• Associated names

  • Named in inscription: Shalmaneser III
  • Named in inscription: Ashurnasirpal II

• Acquisition name

  • Excavated by: Sir Austen Henry Layard

• Acquisition date

  1849

• Acquisition notes

  Found face-down on the floor when Layard excavated a trench to remove colossal figures from the entrances to Rooms G and S to the side of the mound from the west

• Department

  Middle East

• BM/Big number

  124579

• Registration number

  1849,1222.8

• Additional IDs

  • 36 (ex Nimrud Gallery)