North Palace Relief with War Captives

Place of OriginAssyria (Mosul, Iraq), Nineveh

Date668-627 BCE

Dimensions13 3/4 × 19 5/8 × 1 1/8 in. (34.9 × 49.8 × 2.9 cm)

Mediumalabaster, gypsum

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number

1921.84

Not on View

DescriptionA fragmentary relief representing five figures marching towards the left. The three men on the left, dressed in knee-length tunics, are prisoners of war. They carry objects in their hands or on their backs. Behind them walks an Assyrian soldier, dressed in elaborate boots and a belted tunic, wearing a tall helmet. He is armed with a spear, a circular shield, and a stick wielded in his right hand. Behind him is a female prisoner dressed in a long fringed tunic, carrying an object in her left hand and another one on her right shoulder. The right edge preserves the arm of a sixth person, likely another captive, carrying a bucket. Behind the procession are two tall palm trees with spreading branches.

Label TextThis fragmentary relief originates from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh (modern Mosul, Iraq). The palace was part of the grand architectural program of Ashurbanipal (reigned 668–627 BCE), the last great king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, known for expanding the empire and consolidating his influence through extensive military campaigns. The relief fragment depicts a procession of captives and booty, a scene typical of Assyrian palace art, used to glorify military victories. This specific relief, excavated in Court J of the North Palace, features civilian prisoners, likely Babylonians or Chaldeans, identifiable by their distinctive hairstyles and beards. The captives are escorted by Assyrian soldiers in pointed helmets, armed with raised sticks.The two reliefs 1921.83 and 1921.84 were purchased on the London art market in 1921 , reportedly from the personal collection of Austen Henry Layard, the archaeologist who led the excavations at Nineveh on behalf of the British Museum in London.Published ReferencesToledo Museum of Art Museum News, no. 40, Dec. 1921, p. [484-485], repr. p. [483].

Godwin, Blake-More, "Reliefs from the Palace of Sennacherib," Art in America, vol. 10, no. 6, Oct. 1922, p. 282, repr. p. 280.

Barnett, Richard David, Erika Bleibtreu, Geoffrey Turner, and Dominique Collon. Sculptures From the Southwest Palace of Sennacherib At Nineveh. London: British Museum Press 1998, pp. 65-67.

Romano, Irene Bald, Kelly Ann Moss, and Gina Watkinson, “Biography of a Neo-Assyrian Relief Fragment from Nineveh,” Bulletin of the American Society of Overseas Research, vol. 392, November 2024, p. 101, n. 35.

Comparative ReferencesBarnett (1976: 65–67) identified six sculptures from the North Palace at Nineveh now in U.S. collections, most acquired in the 20th century. These are housed at the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore (21.6), the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (33.684), the Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum (1940.13), the Detroit Institute of Arts (44.81), the Hartford Seminary Foundation, and the Toledo Museum of Art (1921.84). Russell (1997) discusses additional 20th-century acquisitions. More recently, Reade (2023) noted six relief fragments from the Bangor Theological Seminary in Maine, probably brought there by 19th-century missionaries; four or five pieces can be attributed to the North Palace.