Ivory Carving British Museum ME127412
The ivory carving British Museum ME 127412 was found in Nimrud in the Northwest Palace along with an almost identical piece and is dated to the 9th or 8th century BC. Chr. Dated. The work is one of the masterpieces of antique ivory carving . The approximately 10.4 cm high and 10.2 cm wide piece is made of ivory with gold plating and inlays in carnelian and lapis lazuli .
The two carvings were found in a well during excavations under the direction of Max Mallowan in 1952 , which certainly explains their good preservation. They probably got there in 612 BC. When the city was sacked by the Babylonians and Medes . The two works probably originally decorated a piece of furniture. The carving in the British Museum has several holes that have been used to secure it in place. There are also two letters Aleph (in Western Semitic script) on the back , possibly aids in attaching the carving.
The relief scene on the front shows a lioness attacking a Nubian and about to kill him. The lioness wears a circle of lapis lazuli on her forehead. The Nubian wears bracelets, the hair and the Egyptian apron are gilded. The background consists of a dense network of lotus and papyrus plants. The flowers are inlaid with carnelian and lapis lazuli. There is also gilding here.
The work in the Levantine carving tradition probably comes from a Phoenician workshop that exported similar work to many parts of the Mediterranean.
The counterpart was in the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad . It has been missing since 2003 after the museum was looted.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Joan Oates, David Oates: Nimrud. Revealed to Assyrian Imperial City. British School of Archeology in Iraq, London 2001, ISBN 0-903472-25-2 , pp. 91-92.
- ^ Nigel Tallis: Plaque with lioness attacking a youth. In: Joan Aruz, Sarah Graff, Yelena Rakic (Eds.): Assyria to Iberia: At the Dawn of the Classical Age. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York / New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-20808-5 , pp. 151–152, no. 50.