LOT 0200

Large Neo-Assyrian Cuneiform Frieze Section with Annals for King Ashurnasirpal II

883-859 B.C.

14 3/8 in. (2.85 kg total, 36.5 cm wide including stand).

A stone frieze with four lines of large cuneiform text accompanied by documentation to support that this a section from the annals of King Ashurnasirpal II: 'Ashurnasirpal (II), great king, mighty king, king of the universe, king of Assyria, son of Tukulti-Ninurta (II), great king, mighty king, king of the universe, king of Assyria, son of Adad-nirari (II), great king, mighty king, king of the universe, king of Assyria, valiant man, who acts with the support of the weapons of Assur, his lord, who has no equal among the princes of the four regions, king who has subdued (the territories extending) from the opposite bank of the Tigris to Mount Lebanon and the Great Sea, the entire land of Laqû, the land of Suhu as far as the city of Rapiqu. He conquered the sources of the Subnat river as far as the land of Nirbu…'; mounted on a custom-made display stand.

Belgian private collection, acquired before 1960, and thence by descent to the collector's widow.
with Mrs Drees (?), Brussels, acquired from the widow of the above, 2004.
with Pierre Bergé & Associés, Paris, 28 October 2006, lot 219.
with Gorny & Mosch, Munich, 12 December 2023, lot 416.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13369-258955.

Cf. George, A. (ed.), Cuneiform Royal Inscriptions and Related Texts in the Schøyen Collection, Cornell University Studies in Assyriology and Sumerology, vol. 17, Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection, Cuneiform texts VI. CDL Press, Bethesda, MD, 2011, text 70, p. 136, pl. LI, for similar inscription.

Most of the reliefs and inscriptions of this king are in the British Museum and Louvre. Further holdings are in the New York Historical Society, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale University. They celebrated the glory of the Assyrians at the apogee of their Empire.