wall panel; relief

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Object Type: wall panel; relief
Museum number: 124874
Description: Gypsum wall panel relief: on the bottom a scene of hunting gazelle. Herd of gazelle disturbed by huntsmen; one looks round, tries to escape and is led into ambush. Ashurbanipal waits in a hide (rather than a pit) with a bow and shoots the leader down. On the middle row is a lion hunt on horseback; Ashurbanipal drives a spear into one lion's mouth but another, which has been hit by arrows and left for dead, leaps up to maul the king's spare horse; attendants gallop to the rescue from the left. In the next episode, to the right, the king has killed both lions; some attendants admire them and others, kneeling in disgrace, probably allowed their horses to lag too far behind the king. The bottom row shows Ashurbanipal on foot, killing a lion; the lion is released from a cage by a small person, possibly a child, who has his own cage to hide in; the lion advances on the king and is hit by an arrow; finally, on the left, the king dispatches lion with sword.
Authority: Ruler: Ashurbanipal
Cultures/periods: Neo-Assyrian
Production date: 645BC-635BC
Excavator/field collector: Excavated by: Hormuzd Rassam; Excavated by: William Kennett Loftus; Excavated by: Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson; Excavated by: John George Taylor
Findspot: Excavated/Findspot: North Palace (Nineveh), Room S Panel 15 (bottom row) Panel 11 (middle row)
Materials: gypsum
Dimensions: Height: 165.10 centimetres; Width: 114.30 centimetres
Bibliographic references: Barnett 1976 / Sculptures from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh (668-627 B.C) (p.51, pl.XLIX); Helms S & Betts A 1987a / The Desert "kites" of the Badiyat Esh-Sham and North Arabia (pp.59-62, fig. 19c); Frankfort H 1954a / The art and architecture of the Ancient Orient (pl.113); Gadd 1936b / The Stones of Assyria: the surviving remains of Assyrian sculpture, their recovery, and their original positions (pp.184-185); Gadd 1934c / The Assyrian Sculptures (pp.72-73); Barnett & Foreman 1959 / Assyrian Palace Reliefs and their Influence on the Sculptures of Babylonia and Persia (pl.102)
Location: On display (G10a/sC)
Exhibition history: 2018-2019 8 Nov - 24 Feb, London, BM, I am Ashurbanipal, king of the world, king of Assyria
Subjects: mammal; child; king/queen; arms/armour; attendant; equestrian
Associated names: Representation of: Ashurbanipal
Acquisition date: 1856
Department: Middle East
BM/Big number: 124874
Registration number: 1856,0909.48
Additional IDs: Miscellaneous number: 106 (ex AS)
Conservation: Treatment: 18.09.2018

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