wall panel; relief

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Object Type: wall panel; relief
Museum number: 124920
Title: Object: The Banquet Scene
Description: Gypsum wall panel relief fragment; carved in low relief; the topmost register is represented by the 'Garden Scene' with birds and a locust in the trees, showing (from left to right) two women holding napkins and fanning the queen with fly-whisks; two more each bring a dish, which they protect with a fly-whisk, towards the enthroned queen and reclining king, who feast in the arbour amid the vines, conifers and palms, hung with the grisly trophies of victory, consisting of the head and hand holding a wand of Teumman, king of Elam. The hands of a woman drummer and a woman harpist can be seen amid the palms and conifers. Behind the king stand two more ladies holding napkins and fanning him, and behind them is a table holding his sword, bow and quiver. The furniture is very elaborate.
Authority
Cultures/periods
Production date: 645BC-635BC
Production place: Made in: Iraq
Excavator/field collector: Excavated by: Hormuzd Rassam; Excavated by: Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson; Excavated by: John George Taylor; Excavated by: William Kennett Loftus
Findspot: Excavated/Findspot: North Palace (Nineveh), Room S (fallen into)
Materials
Technique
Dimensions: Length: 58.42 centimetres; Width: 139.70 centimetres; Depth: 15.24 centimetres
Curator's comments: Carved gypsum wall panel relief fragment: showing a garden scene with birds and a locust in the trees. The king has left his weapons on a table to the right; he reclines on a sofa beneath a vine and his queen sits opposite him; they are drinking and refreshments are on the table. Maids fan the royal couple; others bring food or play music. Suspended from a tree behind the queen is the head of Teumman, king of Elam. The furniture is very elaborate. The faces of the king and queen were mutilated in 612 BC by soldiers ransacking Nimrud. Guralnick has also noted heavy weathering on the costume of Assurbanipal (paper given at the RAI, London, 2003). In set with 1856,0909.56 (BM.124922) In set with 1856,0909.55 (BM.124794) In set with 1969,0416.1-6 (BM.135115-135120). A plaster cast of detail was made by BMCo (no.21): type cast stored with ANE casts at Blythe House (November 2006). The cast is listed as available in the British Museum Facsimile Service 'Catalogue of Replicas from British Museum collections' (n.d.), in the series "Assyrian Bas-Reliefs".
Bibliographic references: Rawlinson G 1871a / The five great monarchies of the ancient eastern world (3 volumes) (vol.1, p.493); Rassam H 1897a / Asshur and the Land of Nimrod (pp.38,40, pls opposite); Paterson 1901-11 / Assyrian Sculptures (12 parts) (1907 vol., pl.LXI); Meissner 1920b / Assyriologische Forschungen II; Gadd 1934c / The Assyrian Sculptures (p.75); Gadd 1936b / The Stones of Assyria: the surviving remains of Assyrian sculpture, their recovery, and their original positions (p.193); Frankfort H 1954a / The art and architecture of the Ancient Orient (fig.451); Pritchard, J B 1954a / The Ancient Near East in Pictures relating to the Old Testament (fig.451); Barnett & Foreman 1959 / Assyrian Palace Reliefs and their Influence on the Sculptures of Babylonia and Persia (pl.105); Strommenger E & Hirmer M 1962a / Funf Jahrtausende Mesopotamien (pl.241); Albenda 1974a / Grapevines in Ashurbanipal's Garden; Barnett 1976 / Sculptures from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh (668-627 B.C) (p.57, pl.LXIV); Reade 1979b / Ideology and propaganda in Assyrian art: a symposium on ancient empires (fig. 13); Schmidt-Colinet C 1997a / Ashurbanipal banqueting with his queen? Wer throhnt bei Assurbanipal in der weinlaube?; Batmanglij 1999a / A Taste of Persia (pp.8-9) (colour photograph); Nylander C 1999a / Breaking the cup of kingship. An Elamite coup in Nineveh?; Bahrani 2008a / Rituals of War: the Body and Violence in Mesopotamia; Collon 2010a / Getting it wrong in Assyria: Some bracelets from Nimrud (pp.158-59, fig.12b) (on the bracelets); May 2012a / Triumph as an aspect of the Neo-Assyrian decorative program; Alvarez-Mon 2009a / Ashurbanipal's feast: a view from Elam
Location: Not on display
Exhibition history: Exhibited: 2018-2019, 8 Nov - 24 Feb, London, BM, I am Ashurbanipal, king of the world, king of Assyria 2014-2015 22 Sep-5 Jan, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 'Assyria to Iberia at the Dawn of the Classical Age'
Subjects: garden; feast/banquet; king/queen; insect; bird; plant; arms/armour; furniture/woodwork; musician; servant/domestic worker
Associated names: Representation of: Ashurbanipal; Representation of: Teumman
Acquisition date: 1856
Department: Middle East
BM/Big number: 124920
Registration number: 1856,0909.53
Additional IDs: Miscellaneous number: 121 (ex AS)

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