Eagle-Headed Winged Genius

883 - 859 BCE

Assyrian, Mesopotamian

On View

Ancient Middle East Gallery, Level 1, West Wing

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About the Artwork

An eagle-headed, winged divinity stands facing a tree of life (the ends of the branches are visible at the right edge). The figure was a small section of the wall decoration in the state apartments of the royal palace at Nimrud in northern Iraq, built by Ashurnasirpal II, king of Assyria. The deity holds a bucket in one hand and in the other a spathe (leaf-like sheath for the flowers) of the date palm. He is tending the tree, a symbol of vegetal life and fertility. He, and many more like him—original brightly highlighted with black, white, red, and blue paint—formed the ornamentation around a room near the throne room thought to have served as a place of ritual bathing. The motif stresses the political and religious importance of nurturing both the kingship and the land for the prosperity of Assyria.

Title Eagle-Headed Winged Genius

Artwork Date 883 - 859 BCE

Artist ----------

Life Dates ----------

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Mesopotamian

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Assyrian

Medium Gypsum alabaster

Dimensions Overall: 39 3/4 × 25 × 3 inches (101 × 63.5 × 7.6 cm) Overall (irregular rectangle, bottom): 22 1/2 inches (57.2 cm)

Classification Sculpture

Department Ancient Near Eastern Art

Credit Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Leslie H. Green

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 47.181

Markings

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Provenance

Seymour Family (Wiltshire, England).
(Spink and Sons Ltd. [est. 1666], London, England);
Leslie H. Green;
1947-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance, please visit:

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Bulletin of the DIA 27, no. 2 (1948): pp. 39-42 (ill.).

Stearns, J. B. Reliefs from the Palace of Ashurnasipal II. 1961, p. 55, (ill.).

"Family Art Game: Curator's Choice," Detroit Free Press (April 1, 1988): p. 11 (ill.). [DIA Advertising Supplement].

Henshaw, Julia P., ed. A Visitors Guide: The Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1995, p. 97 (ill.).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Assyrian, Mesopotamian, Eagle-Headed Winged Genius, 883 - 859 BCE, gypsum alabaster. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Leslie H. Green, 47.181.