Fragment of an Assyrian Bone Relief with the Head of a Cow

Culture: Assyrian

Period: 9th-8th century B.C.

Material: Bone

Dimensions: 3.2 cm x 3.7 cm

Price: 1 600 Euro

Ref: 6421

Provenance: From the old German collection Becker, 1980s. Thence with Antikenkabinett Gackstätter with the list number 01390. Last in a Munich collection of idols. With the original certificate of Antikenkabinett Gackstätter.

Condition: One horn worn, reassembled from two pieces.

Description: Bone relief worked out in high-quality with the depiction of a cow. The head of the animal turned backwards, the horns are bent forward. The large eye framed by thick eyelid margins looking downwards. At the neck bottom remains of a notched, ragged mane. Reliefs such as the present one are known from the palace of the Assyrian king Aššur-nâṣir-apli II in Nimrud. They depict a cow licking the suckling calf. A nearly complete relief is today in the Museum in Aleppo with the inventory number 349. These reliefs were crafted in Phoenician workshops. They were popular as inlays of high quality furniture in ruling houses in the Levante and Assyria. Mounted.