wall panel;
relief
- Museum number
- 124561
- Description
-
Gypsum wall panel depicting a protective spirit in relief: this figure, a man with wings like an angel, is a protective spirit, probably an 'apkallu'. He carries a goat and a giant ear of corn, possibly symbolic of fertility though their precise significance is uncertain. He wears a kilt with long tassels hanging from it, indicating his semi-divine status, and a fringed robe, embroidered with clusters of dates, which is drawn round the body and thrown over his shoulder, leaving the right leg exposed. There are sandals on his feet. A bead necklace round his neck is held in position by a tassel at the back. His armlets have animal-head terminals, and there are rosettes on his wristlets and on his diadem. He has the magnificent curled moustache and long curled beard and hair typical of ninth-century figures. The musculature of his leg is exaggeratedly drawn, with a prominent vein encircling his ankle.
Across his body runs the standard inscription. This was incised after the carving of the figure was complete, and cuts through some of the fine details of decoration on the dress.
- Production date
- 875BC-860BC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 224 centimetres
-
Thickness: 12 centimetres (extant)
-
Width: 127 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Inscription subject
royal
- Curator's comments
- This figure was probably one of a pair which guarded an entrance into the private quarters of the king. It was previously described on a label as from Room Z rather than T.
The cast of the inscription is listed as available in the British Museum Facsimile Service 'Catalogue of Replicas from British Museum collections' (n.d.), in the series "Assyrian Inscriptions"; moreover, the full cast is also listed in the same document in the series "Assyrian Bas-Reliefs".
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2006 1 Jul-7 Oct, Shanghai Museum, 'Art and Empire'
- Acquisition date
- 1849
- Acquisition notes
- Shipped on the "Apprentice"; arrived January 1849.
- Department
- Middle East
- BM/Big number
- 124561
- Registration number
- 1849,0502.2
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: NG.18 (ex Nimrud Gallery)
