Relief with Winged Genie
- Culture
- Assyrian, c.2400–612 BCE
- Date
- 883–859 BCE
- Material
- Alabaster
- excavated in
- Nimrud, Ninawa governorate, Iraq, Asia
- Classification
- Sculpture, stone & mineral
- Collection
- Ancient Art
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 259
- Dimensions
- 59 1/2 x 35 1/4 in. (151.1 x 89.5 cm)
- Credit Line
- Museum Purchase
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 186:1925
NOTES
Imagine a palace where room after room is lined with these huge relief slabs carved with life-size figures. King Ashurnasirpal II built such a palace at Kalhu (Nimrud, Iraq). The royal structure was meant to both glorify the king with depictions and descriptions of his splendid building endeavors, military triumphs, and hunting exploits and to awe, impress and intimidate visitors. Here we see a winged deity, often called a genie apkallu in Assyrian) standing before a stylized date palm tree. Holding a pail in one hand and a pinecone-like object in the other, he performs a ritual, that recalls the prosperity of Ashunasirpal’s reign. Across the entire relief is a lengthy inscription that recounts the king’s great deeds.
Provenance
1845
Excavated by Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817-1894), Northwest Palace, room L, Nimrud, Assyria (modern day Iraq) [1]
by 1852 - 1925
English officer, acquired from Sir Austen Henry Layard; officer's son by inheritance [2]
1925
Spink & Son, Ltd., London, England, reportedly acquired from the son of an English officer
1925 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Spink & Son, Ltd. [3]
Notes:
[1] With the assistance of Sir Stratford-Canning, English Ambassador at Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) and the British Museum, Layard (an English archeologist) excavated at Nimrud and subsequently distributed artifacts to individuals and institutions [Spink and Son, Ltd, "An Assyrian Sculptured Panel." "The Antiquarian Quarterly" no. 2 (June 1925): 39-40].
[2] In 1852 Layard was elected Liberal MP for Aylesbury and appointed Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. During the 1850s he returned to Italy for long periods in the summers and began an ambitious project to copy all Italian 15th-century fresco cycles, which were being destroyed. Presumably by this time he had distrubuted the Nimrud reliefs to their various recipients [Jaynie Anderson, "Sir Austen Henry Layard," The Grove Dictionary of Art Online, Oxford University Press, accessed December 12, 2003,]. Ravn mentions that the owner of the relief was a marine officer, but does not provide further clarification [Ravn, O.E. "Die Reliefs der assyrischen Konige." "Archiv fur Orientforschung" Zweiter Teil, Band XVI, no. 3 (1952-1953): 233-4].
[3] See Invoice dated December 17, 1925 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, October 30, 1925.
Excavated by Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817-1894), Northwest Palace, room L, Nimrud, Assyria (modern day Iraq) [1]
by 1852 - 1925
English officer, acquired from Sir Austen Henry Layard; officer's son by inheritance [2]
1925
Spink & Son, Ltd., London, England, reportedly acquired from the son of an English officer
1925 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Spink & Son, Ltd. [3]
Notes:
[1] With the assistance of Sir Stratford-Canning, English Ambassador at Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) and the British Museum, Layard (an English archeologist) excavated at Nimrud and subsequently distributed artifacts to individuals and institutions [Spink and Son, Ltd, "An Assyrian Sculptured Panel." "The Antiquarian Quarterly" no. 2 (June 1925): 39-40].
[2] In 1852 Layard was elected Liberal MP for Aylesbury and appointed Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. During the 1850s he returned to Italy for long periods in the summers and began an ambitious project to copy all Italian 15th-century fresco cycles, which were being destroyed. Presumably by this time he had distrubuted the Nimrud reliefs to their various recipients [Jaynie Anderson, "Sir Austen Henry Layard," The Grove Dictionary of Art Online, Oxford University Press, accessed December 12, 2003,
[3] See Invoice dated December 17, 1925 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, October 30, 1925.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.