Ivory Head of a Roaring Lion in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 2010

Title: Head of a roaring lion

Period: Neo-Assyrian

Date: ca. 9th–8th century B.C.

Geography: Mesopotamia, Nimrud (ancient Kalhu)

Medium: Ivory

Dimensions: H. 3 3/4 x W. 3 x D. 2 3/4in. (9.5 x 7.6 x 6.9cm)

Classification: Ivory/Bone-Sculpture

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1962

Accession Number: 62.269.1


Description:

Assyrian-style ivory carving, contrasting with Phoenician- and Syrian-style ivories found at Nimrud, is illustrated by this ferocious lion's head. Assyrian craftsmen also carved subjects that appear on the stone bas-reliefs of the Assyrian palaces on flat ivory panels, including scenes of warfare, processions, and divinities approaching the sacred tree.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/ancien...