Human Attendant Carrying a Bow, Arrows, and a Mace Artist: Unknown

ca. 883–859 B.C.

Ancient Art

On view, 1st floor, Ancient Art

This large relief depicts a standing male figure, probably a eunuch, judging by his portly physique and the absence of a beard. He wears a long tunic, fringed with tassels at the bottom edge, and sandals on his feet (with traces of red pigment preserved). An assortment of jewelry is visible, including an earring, a necklace, an arm ring, and a bracelet. His multiple weapons—a bow in one hand, a mace in the other, and a sword in a scabbard at his side—identify him as a royal bodyguard. Once brightly painted, this relief, along with many others representing both human and semidivine figures (see, for example, 1854.1, 1854.3, 1854.4–.5), belonged to the decorative program of the palace built by the Assyrian king Assurnasirpal II at ancient Kalhu (present-day Nimrud, Iraq). The cuneiform inscription running horizontally across the middle of the relief recounts the military, administrative, and religious achievements of the king.

Medium

Gypseous alabaster with traces of pigment

Dimensions

88 9/16 × 43 5/16 in. (225 × 110 cm)

Credit Line

Yale University Purchase

Accession Number

1854.2.1

Geography

Found in Nimrud, Assyria, Iraq

Culture

Near Eastern, Assyrian

Period

Assyrian

Classification

Sculpture

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Palace of Assurnasirpal II, Room S; purchased from the British excavations at Nimrud.
Bibliography
  • Ada Cohen and Steven E. Kangas, Assyrian Reliefs from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II (Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 2010), 7, 10, 22
  • Susan B. Matheson, Art for Yale: A History of the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2001), 22 (detail), 27–29, fig. 27
  • Rita Dolce and Maresita Nota Santi, Dai palazzi assiri: immagini di potere da Assurnasirpal II ad Assurbanipal (IX–VII sec. A.C.) (Rome: L'Erma di Bretschneider, 1995),
  • J. E. Curtis and Julian E. Reade, eds., Art and Empire: Treasures from Assyria in the British Museum, exh. cat. (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995),
  • Albert Kirk Grayson, Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millenium B.C. (1114–859 B.C.) (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991),
  • Samuel M. Paley and Richard P. Sobolewski, The Reconstruction of the Relief Representations and Their Positions in the Northwest Palace at Kalhu (Nimrud) II (Mainz, Germany: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1987), 39, S-4, pls. 2, 8.
  • Samuel M. Paley, King of the World (Brooklyn: Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1976), 66–67
  • Richard D. Barnett, Assyrian Sculpture in the British Museum (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1975),
  • Julian E. Reade, "Twelve Ashurnasirpal Reliefs," Iraq 27 (1965), 133, ill
  • J. B. Stearns, Reliefs from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II (Graz, Austria: Archiv für Orientforschung, 1961), 43, pl. 57, no. A-VI-a-ii-1
  • Ferris J. Stephens, Votive and Historical Texts from Babylonia and Assyria, 9 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1937), 30, pl. 46, item 131, ill
  • Cyril John Gadd, The Stones of Assyria: The Surviving Remains of Assyrian Sculpture, Their Recovery and Their Original Positions (London: Chatto and Windus, 1936), 243, pl. 3
  • M. Vaughn, "Assyrian Sculptures in America," International Studio 86 (1927), 59
  • Albert Tobias Clay, The Yale Babylonian Collection, 2 vols. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1915), 12, fig. 18
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

figures (representations), histories (visual works), human figures (visual works), reliefs

Inscriptions

"Standard Inscription" across middle of figure, 20 lines

Technical metadata and APIs

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