An alabaster relief showing the side profile of a bearded man. His beard is long and made of many tight curls and he wears a domed headpiece.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A rectangular, alabaster relief showing the side profile of a bearded man. The man is looking to the viewer’s left and is closer to the left side edge of the stone. His beard is long and made of many tight curls and he wears a domed headpiece. Long, tightly curled hair comes out from the back of the headpiece. He wears a thick earring and tassel necklace. The entire piece is grey with some brown discoloration.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1940.13
Title
Fragment of a Wall Relief: Head of a Winged Protective Spirit
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture, relief
Date
883-859 BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Assyria
Period
Neo-Assyrian period
Culture
Neo-Assyrian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/291708

Location

Location
Level 3, Room 3460, Ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Art, Art of the Ancient Mediterranean and Middle East
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Alabaster
Technique
Relief
Dimensions
65.5 cm h x 50.5 cm w x 10 cm d (25 13/16 x 19 7/8 x 3 15/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II, Nimrud (ancient Kalhu), Iraq. Excavated, (between 1845-1847) [1]; by Sir Austen Henry Layard, (by 1847-1848), gift; to Lady Charlotte Guest Schreiber [2], Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, (1848-1895), by inheritance; to Captain Vere Brabazon Ponsonby, Ninth Earl of Bessborough [3], (by 1895-1938), sold; through [Sotheby's, London, December 20, 1938, lot 119]; to [Spink and Son, Ltd, London], (1938-1940), sold; to Fogg Art Museum, 1940.

[1] With negotiated permission from the Ottoman government to excavate and export finds, Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817–1894) organized explorations of the Northwest Palace at Nimrud (Iraq) in two campaigns, 1845–1847 and 1849–1851. This relief fragment was likely excavated in May or June 1846, when Layard's operation explored the Northwest Palace's throne room (Room B).

[2] John Malcolm Russell (1997), From Nineveh to New York, p. 53. Lady Charlotte Guest Schreiber (1812-1895) was Layard's cousin, patron, and (eventually) mother-in-law.

[3] Captain Vere Brabazon Ponsonby, Ninth Earl of Bessborough, (1880-1956) was the grandson of Lady Charlotte Guest Schreiber.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Mrs. Percival Lombard, Mrs. John Bartol, Miss Dorothy Bartol, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick R. Grace, and the Alpheus Hyatt Purchasing Fund
Accession Year
1940
Object Number
1940.13
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Representing the head of a winged genie, or protective spirit, this relief fragment was part of the wall decoration of the throne room of King Ashurnasirpal II's Northwest Palace at Nimrud (ancient Kalhu) in Iraq. Placed to the right of the throne base, the genie - wearing the horned cap of a deity - was probably performing a ritual. It was one of several representations of genies intended to ensure the protection of this important room. Across the genie's body ran Ashurnasirpal II's "standard inscription," giving the titles and the achievements of the Assyrian king. Hunt and battle scenes carved on the long walls of the room conveyed a similar message. The appearance of these reliefs was originally enhanced by paint. This particular fragment was presented by Sir Austen Henry Layard, the excavator of Nimrud, to his cousin, Lady Charlotte Guest, in 1848.
Commentary
This fragment comes from the wall relief slab conventionally recorded in scholarship as "B-22" (the throne room is also known as Room B). The legs below the figure's knees remained in place ("in situ") in the palace, but the middle register of the figure is not extant, nor is the surface of the left portion of the slab. The adjacent slab to the left, B-23, was located directly behind the throne; today is located in the British Museum (museum registration number 1849,0502.15); the adjacent slab to the right remained in situ in Iraq. Further to the left, a pendant figure of a winged spirit occurs on slab B-24; the upper portion of that figure is in the Princeton University Art Museum today (object number y207).

Publication History

  • Frederick Randolph Grace, "An Assyrian Winged Genius", Bulletin of the Fogg Art Museum (1940), Vol. 9, No. 2, 22-28, cover ill.
  • Julian Edgeworth Reade, Twelve Ashurnasirpal Reliefs, Iraq (1965), Vol. 27, 2, pp. 119-134, p.130, no. 22
  • Janusz Meuszyński, The Throne-Room of Aššur-naṣir-apli II. (Room B in the North-West Palace at Nimrud), Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie (1974), Vol. 64, issue 1, pp.51-73, p. 56 no. 22
  • Janusz Meuszyński, Die Rekonstruktion der Reliefdarstellungen und ihrer Anordnung im Nordwestpalast von Kalḫu (Nimrūd), Verlag Philipp von Zabern (Mainz am Rhein, 1981)
  • John Malcolm Russell, From Nineveh to New York: the strange story of the Assyrian reliefs in the Metropolitan Museum and the hidden masterpiece at Canford Manor, Metropolitan Museum of Art / Yale University Press (New Haven, 1997), p. 52 fig. 32, p. 53
  • Klaudia Englund, Nimrud Und Seine Funde, VML, Verlag Marie Leidorf (Rahden, 2003), p. 52
  • Stephan Wolohojian, ed., Harvard Art Museum/Handbook (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2008)

Exhibition History

  • Gods in Color: Painted Sculpture of Classical Antiquity, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/22/2007 - 01/20/2008
  • Re-View: S422 Ancient & Byzantine Art & Numismatics, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 04/12/2008 - 06/18/2011
  • 32Q: 3460 East Arcade, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 06/28/2021; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 12/09/2024 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project
  • Collection Highlights

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu