door-sill

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Object Type: door-sill
Museum number: 118913
Description: Rectangular door-sill; carved from limestone; designed to appear as a carpet. The overall pattern of the principal rectangle is a field of interlocking circles, drawn with a compass, giving the effect of flowers with six petals. There is a row of rosettes around the edge, while an arcaded lotus and bud pattern forms an outer fringe.
Authority: Ruler: Ashurbanipal
Cultures/periods: Neo-Assyrian
Production date: 645BC-640BC
Excavator/field collector: Excavated by: Hormuzd Rassam; Excavated by: John George Taylor; Excavated by: William Kennett Loftus; Excavated by: Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson
Findspot: Excavated/Findspot: North Palace (Nineveh), Room I Door B or D
Materials: limestone
Technique: carved
Dimensions: Length: 127 centimetres; Thickness: 7.50 centimetres; Width: 124 centimetres
Curator's comments: This is part of one of the door-sills of the throne-room of Ashurbanipal (668-c 631 BC). We have to envisage the floors of the Assyrian palaces as covered in brightly coloured textiles. The doorways, instead, sometimes had hard-wearing imitation carpets such as this. The lotus and bud motif originated in Egypt, spread to Phoenicia and became popular in Assyria towards the end of the eighth century. Phoenician textiles were imported to Assyria, and the design of this stone carpet may have been based on them. See also door-sill 1856,0909.45 (BM118910).
Bibliographic references: Barnett 1976 / Sculptures from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh (668-627 B.C) (p.43, pl.XXVII); Curtis & Reade 1994a / Tesoros de asiria en el Museo Britanico: Arte e Imperio (45); Curtis & Reade 1995a / Art and empire: treasures from Assyria in the British Museum (45); Paterson A 1915a / Assyrian sculptures, palace of Sinacherib [sic] (pl.102(2)); Gadd 1936b / The Stones of Assyria: the surviving remains of Assyrian sculpture, their recovery, and their original positions (p.190); Gadd 1934c / The Assyrian Sculptures (pp.12, 73); British Museum 2011a / Splendours of Mesopotamia (p.145, cat.121)
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 2018-2019 8 Nov - 24 Feb, London, BM, I am Ashurbanipal, king of the world, king of Assyria 2018 9 May-3 Sep, Hong Kong History Museum, An Age of Luxury 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'
Subjects: flower
Acquisition date: 1856
Department: Middle East
BM/Big number: 118913
Registration number: 1856,0909.44
Additional IDs: Miscellaneous number: 10 (Old Gallery No.)
Conservation: Treatment: 01 Nov 2010; Treatment: 31 Aug 1994

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