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HOME :
Near Eastern Art :
Near Eastern Art Collection/ HK : Assyrian Limestone Wall Panel Depicting the Head of a Man
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Assyrian Limestone Wall Panel Depicting the Head of a Man - X.0376
Origin: Near East
Circa: 900
BC
to 800
BC
Dimensions:
16.75" (42.5cm) high
Collection: Near Eastern
Medium: Limestone
Additional Information: Hong Kong, Art Logic--Sotheby's (New York) 2003
Location: UAE
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| Description |
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Although archaeological excavations
reveal that
the land of the Assyrians had been
inhabited as
early as 5000 B.C., it was not until the
reign of
King Sargon of Akkad in 2371 B.C. that
the
Assyrians first rose to glory. Under
Sargon, the
kingdom rapidly expanded north to the
city of
Ashur and as far west as the
Mediterranean,
controlled by a central government based
in
Akkad. By 1813 B.C., King Shamshi-Adad
I
united the cities of Ashur, Nineveh, and
Arbel
into one cohesive administrative unit.
These
three cities, as well as Arrapkha and
Kalhu (later
known as Nimrud), form the historical
core of
the Assyrian Kingdom which would remain
a
credible force throughout the
Mediterranean
world for the next millennium. While
various
parts of Assyrian territory were annexed
for brief
periods of time by neighboring
civilizations, this
core remained firmly intact. The
Assyrians
experienced another Golden Age, lasting
from
the 9th until the 7th Century B.C. (this
period is
referred to as “Neo-Assyrian”). During
this
period, the kingdom grew to its largest
extent,
encompassing the lands from parts of
modern
Iran to the Mediterranean, from Anatolia
to
Egypt. However, it proved difficult
even for the
powerful Assyrian monarchs to maintain
control
over this vast territory for very long.
By the end
of the 7th Century, the Assyrian Kingdom
began
to collapse under the weight of assaults
from the
Babylonians to the south and the newly
founded
Medes Kingdom to the east. In 612 B.C.,
Nimrud
burned for the second time in three
years,
followed by the sacking of Ashur and
Nineveh,
effectively ending Assyrian control of
the ancient
Near East.
This fragment of an Ancient Assyrian
limestone
wall panel depicts the head of a man.
Judging
from the iconography of similar panels
in
museums around the world, it is likely
that this
man was either an important member of
the
royal entourage, or was a foreign
dignitary
visiting Assyria to pay his respects to
the king. A
closer analysis of the headdress and
hairstyle of
the man would likely indicate his
status. If he
was a foreigner, he would surely have
been
carrying offerings from his homeland as
gifts for
the king. He wears a tall conical
headdress with
a wide brim over which his ear sticks
out. A
large tuft of hair emerges from
underneath the
brim in the rear. His facial features,
most
significantly his eye and ear, have been
carefully
carved from the stone with great
attention to
detail. His long beard has been treated
with a
motif of small circular bumps that
imitate the
texture of curls.
- (X.0376)
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