wall panel;
relief
- Museum number
- 118901
- Description
-
Gypsum wall panel relief: a captive woman leads a group of four camels. Her dress consists of a long fringed garment with short sleeves and a fringed cloak which covers the head after the fashion of Syrian women. She wears triple bracelets on both wrists, and carries in her right hand a beautifully formed vase with pointed base and a round handle. Her left hand touches her forehead in sign of submission (or despair?). The left hindlegs of the last two camels are misrepresented as if single legs. The grouping and drawing of the animals makes this the best of the slabs representing camels. The procession of prisoners and booty represents those captured during one of Tiglath-Pileser III's campaigns against Arab enemies. It is in very bad condition on the right side, largely owing to the action of salt on a broken surface, so that many details are lost and at the extreme edge the whole surface is ruined.
- Production date
- 728BC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 99 centimetres
-
Length: 162 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
In set with 1848,1104.2 (BM.118880)
In set with 1849,1222.11 (BM.118878).
-
An original drawing of this relief is in the British Museum's 'Original Drawings of Assyrian Sculptures' collection: Or.Dr.III, 'Central IX: "A female prisoner and camels, part of the spoil"', and is published in Barnett & Falkner (1962), 'The Sculptures of Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 B.C.)', pl. XXV, and Layard (1849) 'The Monuments of Nineveh', vol. I, pl. 61.
-
ITP 229: inscription of Tiglath-Pileser referring to his campaign against Shamsi, an Arab queen, and which event is illustrated on this relief.
-
The cast was previously listed as available in the British Museum Facsimile Service 'Catalogue of Replicas from British Museum collections' (n.d.), in the series "Assyrian Bas-Reliefs" but the mould no longer exists.
- Location
- On display (G6a)
- Acquisition date
- 1849
- Department
- Middle East
- BM/Big number
- 118901
- Registration number
- 1849,1222.15
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: 92 (NCS)
