wall panel; relief

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Object Type: wall panel; relief
Museum number: 124928
Description: Gypsum wall panel relief: Assyrian capture of fortress in Egypt. At the top Assyrians storm the fortress; one tries to set fire to the gate while others undermine walls. Prisoners marched out are recognisable as Nubian soldier of Taharka, wear a single upright feather on their heads; native Egyptians are represented by a group of civilian prisoners with two children on a donkey. Below is a river containing many fish and some crabs.
Authority: Ruler: Ashurbanipal
Cultures/periods: Neo-Assyrian
Production date: 645BC-635BC
Excavator/field collector: Excavated by: Hormuzd Rassam; Excavated by: Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson; Excavated by: William Kennett Loftus; Excavated by: John George Taylor
Findspot: Excavated/Findspot: North Palace (Nineveh), Room M Panel 17
Materials: gypsum
Dimensions: Length: 114.30 centimetres; Width: 187.96 centimetres; Depth: 15.24 centimetres
Bibliographic references: Barnett 1976 / Sculptures from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh (668-627 B.C) (p.47, pl.XXXVI); Hall H R 1928a / Babylonian and Assyrian Sculpture in the British Museum (pl.XL); Paterson 1901-11 / Assyrian Sculptures (12 parts) (1907 vol., pl.LXXII); Pritchard, J B 1954a / The Ancient Near East in Pictures relating to the Old Testament (fig.10); Gadd 1936b / The Stones of Assyria: the surviving remains of Assyrian sculpture, their recovery, and their original positions (p.196); Gadd 1934c / The Assyrian Sculptures (p.75); Brunner 1952-53 / Ein assyrischer Relief mit einer ägyptischen Festung (pp.253-62); Reade 1979b / Ideology and propaganda in Assyrian art: a symposium on ancient empires (fig.8)
Location: On display (G55/dc11)
Exhibition history: Exhibited: 2018-2019, 8 Nov - 24 Feb, London, BM, I am Ashurbanipal, king of the world, king of Assyria 2022 27 April – 25 July, Paris, Musée du Louvre, Pharaoh of the Two Lands
Subjects: castle/fort; siege; prisoner; soldier; child; equestrian; landscape; fish; crustacean
Associated places: Topographic representation of: Egypt
Acquisition date: 1856
Department: Middle East
BM/Big number: 124928
Registration number: 1856,0909.33

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