CIRCA 8TH-7TH CENTURY B.C.

Details

AN ASSYRIAN GYPSUM RELIEF FRAGMENT
CIRCA 8TH-7TH CENTURY B.C.
16 in. (40.6 cm.) long

Provenance

Likely from the collection of the Bangor Theological Seminary, Bangor, ME, acquired in the late 19th-early 20th century (based on partially-preserved collection label reading "From N[ineveh]" affixed to backside).
with Norman Hurst (1944-2011), Cambridge, MA.
with Carole Davenport, New York, acquired from the above, 1983.
Dr. Vallo Benjamin (1934-2021), New York, acquired from the above, 1983; thence by descent to the current owner.

Literature

"Dr. Vallo Benjamin, M.D., P.C. - Profile," Nineveh, vol. 18, nos. 1-2, 1995, p. 6, ill. cover.

Conditions of sale

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Hannah Fox Solomon Head of Department, Specialist

hsolomon@christies.com +1 212 636 2256

Lot Essay

This relief fragment preserves a series of deceased warriors in the aftermath of a major battle, including one who has been decapitated. To the right are the branches of a pomegranate tree. The scene recalls another from the reign of Ashurbanipal, from the North Palace at Nineveh, now in the British Museum, which has at the center of the composition an Assyrian solider about to decapitate an Elamite officer, identified by the accompanying inscription as Ituni (see R.D. Barnett, Sculptures from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh (668-627 B.C.), p. 42, pl. XXIV).

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