Six Fragments from a Sacred Tree Panel: Assyrian Relief from the Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud, Room L

Unidentified reign of Ashurnasirpal II maker, Assyrian, 883 - 859 BCE
Nimrud (ancient Kalhu)
Mesopotamia

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883-859 BCE

Gypsum wall panel carved in low relief

Overall: 94 × 19 5/8 in. (238.8 × 49.8 cm)

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Sir Henry Rawlinson through Austin H. Wright, Class of 1830

S.856.3.7a-f

Geography

Place Made: Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, West Asia, Asia

Period

1000 BCE-1 CE

Object Name

Building Component

Research Area

Near East

Not on view

Course History

ARTH 20, Art of Ancient Egypt and the Near East, Steven Kangas, Spring 2013

ANTH 39.01/MES 3.02, Archaeology of the Middle East, Jesse Casana, Spring 2021

ARTH 10.01, Art of Ancient Egypt and Near East, Steven Kangas, Spring 2022

ANTH 39.01/MES 3.02, Archaeology of the Middle East, Zachary Silvia, Fall 2022

ANTH 39.01/MES 3.02, Archaeology of the Middle East, Zachary Silvia, Fall 2022

ARTH 1.01, Bodies and Buildings, Nicola Camerlenghi and Steven Kangas, Fall 2022

Art History 10.01, Middle Eastern Studies 16.41, Art of Ancient Egypt and Near East, Steven Kangas, Winter 2023

Religion 57.01, The End of the World, Peter Lanfer, Winter 2023

Exhibition History

From Discovery to Dartmouth: The Assyrian Reliefs at the Hood Museum of Art, 1856-2006, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 19, 2006-June 17, 2007.

Picture Gallery, Reed Hall, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, 1857-1860s; stored in a small closet in Reed Hall, 1860s-1880s; on display again, 1880s-1895. It is uncertain if this fragment was on display.

Publication History

Judith Lerner, Journey's End: The Assyrian Reliefs at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, September, 1985, p. 30-31, ill. p. 30.

Georgia Croft, Back on the Wall (where they belong), Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1985, p. 31-33.

Ada Cohen and Steven E. Kangas, Assyrian Reliefs from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II: A Cultural Biography, Hanover, New Hamphire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2010, p. 84-85, plate 8

Provenance

The reliefs were excavated by Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817-1895), at Nimrud, Iraq, about 1845-47; offered to Missionaries by Henry Creswicke Rawlinson (1810-1895), a political agent of the British in Baghdad, about 1853; Professor Oliver Payson Hubbard, Class of 1873h (1809-1900), Chemistry Professor and College Librarian asked Reverend Austin Hazen Wright (1811-1865), Class of 1830 (Medical missionary stationed in Oroomiah, Persia) to acquire some reliefs for Dartmouth College, 1853; the Dartmouth reliefs were selected and packed by Reverend Henry Lobdell, M.D. (1827-1855) at Nimrud, about 1854-55; travelled from Nimrud to Mosul on mules; travelled on camels across the Syrian desert to the Mediterranean at Alexandretta (Iskenderun); transported to a sailing vessel to Beirut; travelled on the steamer "Daniel Webster" to Boston; travelled by rail to Hanover, New Hampshire; arrived on December 11, 1856.

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