Belt with Assyrian-inspired decoration
Not on view
Following the excavation of Assyrian palaces in the mid-nineteenth century, ancient Mesopotamian imagery began to be used in European decorative arts, including jewelry and ceramics. Publicity in the form of news coverage and popular books around the excavations, removal of many sculptures from sites in northern Iraq to England and France, and public spectacles such as the reconstructed ‘Nineveh Court’ in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, London, fostered a fascination with Assyria and Assyrian art among the Victorian public.
The links of the belt show a variety of Assyrian imagery, including at the center a royal lion-hunt scene with a pseudo-cuneiform inscription, as well as human-headed winged bull gateway guardian figures, known as lamassu, based on those from the palace of Sargon II (r. 722–705 BCE) at Khorsabad. These figures, and similar winged lions, were the motifs most commonly used in Assyrian revival jewelry and decorative arts.
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
