- Museum number
- 118159
- Title
- Object: The woman at the window
- Description
-
Ivory panel showing a woman at a window: she has a full Egyptian hairstyle and wears a necklace. The window-sill is supported by four palm columns. The scene is set within a recessed frame and at the top and bottom of the panel there are tenons for attachment. On the back is incised twice the letter 'gimel' in West Semitic script. It has been thought the woman is a sacred prostitute, but the exact significance of the scene is unclear.
- Production date
- 900BC-700BC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 11 centimetres (Including tenons)
-
Weight: 59 grammes
-
Thickness: 1.50 centimetres
-
Width: 9 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- This panel is one of a group found by Layard and further examples come from Mallowan's excavations at Nimrud, both in the North-West Palace (Mallowan 1952: pl. XIII) and in Fort Shalmaneser (Mallowan 1966: II, figs 429, 554-5). There are examples from the Nabu Temple at Khorsabad (Loud and Altman 1938: pls. 51-2). Further afield, there are collections from Arslan Tash in Syria (Thureau-Dangin 'et al.' 1931: pls XXXIV-XXXVI) and to a lesser extent from Samaria in Israel (Crowfoot and Crowfoot 1938: 29-30, pl. XIII.2). Double versions of these plaques can be seen decorating the legs of the couch on which Ashurbanipal reclines in the famous banquet scene at Nineveh.
Bibliography:
A. H. Layard, ‘Nineveh and its Remains’ vol. I (London, 1849), pl. 88.3;
R. D. Barnett, ‘A Catalogue of Nimrud Ivories in the British Museum’ (London, 1975), 172-3, C.12, pls. IV, CXXXII;
M. E. L. Mallowan, ‘The excavations at Nimrud (Kalhu), 1949-1950: ivories from the N. W. Palace’. ‘Iraq’ 14 (1952), 45-53;
M. E. L. Mallowan, ‘Nimrud and its Remains’ vol. 1 (London, 1966);
G. Loud & C. B. Altman, ‘Khorsabad II: The Citadel and the Town’ (Oriental Institute Publications 40). (Chicago, 1938);
F. Thureau-Dangin ‘et al.’, ‘Arslan-Tash’ (Paris, 1931);
J. W Crowfoot and G. M. Crowfoot, ‘Early Ivories from Samaria’ (London, 1938).
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2020 20 Feb-25 Oct, CaixaForum Zaragoza, An Age of Luxury
2019-2020 18 Sep-12 Jan, CaixaForum Madrid, An Age of Luxury
2019 4 Apr-11 Aug, CaixaForum Barcelona, An Age of Luxury
2018 9 May-3 Sep, Hong Kong History Museum, An Age of Luxury
2014 30 Apr-10 Aug, Bonn, Germany, Art & Exhibition Hall of the FDR, 'The Tel Halaf Adventure'
2013-2014 22 June-6 Jan, Toronto, Royal Ontario Museum, 'Mesopotamia, Inventing Our World'
2013 30 Jan-13 May, Museum of History, Hong Kong, 'The Wonders of Ancient Mesopotamia'
2012 4 May-7 Oct, Melbourne Museum, 'The Wonders of Ancient Mesopotamia'
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.42
1991 5 Jan-20 Feb, Japan, Yamaguchi, Prefectural Museum of Art, Treasures of the British Museum, cat. no.42
1990 20 Oct-9 Dec, Japan, Tokyo, Setagaya Art Museum, Treasures of the British Museum, cat. no.42
1988 Feb-Nov, Italy, Venice, Palazzo Grassi, I Fenici
- Acquisition date
- 1848
- Department
- Middle East
- BM/Big number
- 118159
- Registration number
- 1848,0720.13
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: C.12 (catalogue number)
