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Wing of Lamassu

In stock
SKU
WMET0036
Specialty: Hand Painted on Gallery Wrapped Raw Canvas
  • Raw Canvas
  • Non-Customizable
  • 61"w x 41"h
:
Image M1114
M1114
0.38″ x 2.25″
Maximum 250 characters
Download Tear Sheet
Human_headed_winged_lion

Our Inspiration: Human-headed winged bull (lamassu)

Assyrian, Mesopotamia

Gypsum alabaster, ca. 883–859 BCE

Gift of John D. Rockefeller Jr., 1932   32.143.1

From the 9th to the 7th century B.C., the kings of Assyria ruled over a vast empire centered in northern Iraq. The great Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II (r. 883–859 B.C.) undertook a vast building program at Nimrud, ancient Kalhu. In 879 B.C., Ashurnasirpal held a festival for 69,574 people to celebrate the construction of the new capital, and the event was documented by an inscription that read: "The happy people of all the lands together with the people of Kalhu—for 10 days I feasted, wined, bathed, and honored them and sent them back to their home in peace and joy." The inscription continues: "Beasts of the mountains and the seas, which I had fashioned out of white limestone and alabaster, I had set up in its gates. I made it [the palace] fittingly imposing."

 

Among such stone beasts is the human-headed, winged bull pictured here. The horned cap attests to its divinity, and the belt signifies its power. The sculptor gave these guardian figures five legs so that they appear to be standing firmly when viewed from the front but striding forward when seen from the side. Lamassu protected and supported important doorways in Assyrian palaces.

Human_headed_winged_lion

Our Inspiration: Human-headed winged bull (lamassu)

Assyrian, Mesopotamia

Gypsum alabaster, ca. 883–859 BCE

Gift of John D. Rockefeller Jr., 1932   32.143.1

From the 9th to the 7th century B.C., the kings of Assyria ruled over a vast empire centered in northern Iraq. The great Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II (r. 883–859 B.C.) undertook a vast building program at Nimrud, ancient Kalhu. In 879 B.C., Ashurnasirpal held a festival for 69,574 people to celebrate the construction of the new capital, and the event was documented by an inscription that read: "The happy people of all the lands together with the people of Kalhu—for 10 days I feasted, wined, bathed, and honored them and sent them back to their home in peace and joy." The inscription continues: "Beasts of the mountains and the seas, which I had fashioned out of white limestone and alabaster, I had set up in its gates. I made it [the palace] fittingly imposing."

 

Among such stone beasts is the human-headed, winged bull pictured here. The horned cap attests to its divinity, and the belt signifies its power. The sculptor gave these guardian figures five legs so that they appear to be standing firmly when viewed from the front but striding forward when seen from the side. Lamassu protected and supported important doorways in Assyrian palaces.