The Assyrian King Tukul-apil-esharra III (also called Tiglath-pileser III) Receiving Homage

745 - 727 BCE

Assyrian, Mesopotamian

On View

Ancient Middle East Gallery, Level 1, West Wing

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About the Artwork

Tukul-apil-esharra III (commonly known as Tiglath-Pileser), a powerful king of Assyria, built a royal palace in his capital of Kalhu, now called Nimrud, in northern Iraq. Its principal rooms and courtyards were decorated with large relief sculptures designed to awe visitors to his court. The king's power and majesty were expressed in scenes of war, the hunt, and solemn court ceremonies. In this relief, Tukul-apil-esharra, wearing a tall headdress and holding a bow, is receiving three courtiers. A helmeted warrior prostrates himself at the king's feet. A servant with a fly whisk stands behind the royal figure. Horizontal lines of a cuneiform inscription describing a military campaign run just above the heads of the figures.

Title The Assyrian King Tukul-apil-esharra III (also called Tiglath-pileser III) Receiving Homage

Artwork Date 745 - 727 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: 48 × 94 inches (121.9 × 238.8 cm)

Classification Sculpture

Department Ancient Near Eastern Art

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Ralph Harman Booth Bequest Fund

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. 50.32

Markings

Inscriptions Inscribed, cuneiform characters, in band above figures: [translated: I conquered the city of Sibur together with the cities of its environs. I carried off their booty. The man Tanus fled to the mountains. I offered pure libations to the god Marduk who dwells in Til-Ashuri.]

Provenance

Esarhaddon, Southwest Palace, Nimrud (Calah). between 1845-1850, excavated at the Mound of Nimrud by Sir Austen Henry Layard [1817-1894] and Hormuzd Rassam [1826-1910] (Mosul, Iraq)

1850, Christian Anthony Rassam [1808-1872] H.B.M. British Vice-Consul (Mosul, Iraq)

Hon. Robert Henry Clive [1789-1854] London, England)

Robert Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth [1857-1923] (Hewell Grange, Redditch, Worcestershire, England)

Hon. Ivor Miles Windsor-Clive, 2nd Earl of Plymouth [1889-1943] (Worcestershire, England)

July 29,1946, sold by (Sotheby & Co. London, England, lot 162). (Unknown Syndicate, offered in private sale)

by 1950, (Hagop Kevorkian [1872-1962] New York, New York, USA)

1950-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

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

Illustrated London News (August 10, 1946): p. 164.

Catalog of an Important Assyrian Stone Bas-Relief, The Property of the Earl of Plymouth. Sales cat., Sotheby and Co. London, July 29, 1946, no. 162.

Pictures on Exhibit, vol. 12, no. 10 (1950): pp. 40-41.

Pallas, vol. 14, no. 14 (1950): p. 158.

"Art News of the Year: An Assyrian Relief of Tiglath- Pileser III," Art News, vol. 49, no. 7 (1950): p. 199.

"An Assyrian Relief of Tiglath-Pileser III," Art Quarterly, vol. 13, no. 3 (1950): p. 254 (ill.).

Country Life, vol. 112, no. 2911 (1952): p. 1389 (ill.).

Layard, A. "The Huge Mounds of Assyria," The Treasures of Time. 1961, p. 113.

Handbook. DIA. 1971.

Orthmann, W. "Der Alte Orient," Propylaen Kunst Geschichte vol. 14. 1975.

Peck, W.H. Archaeology, vol. 31 (May-June 1978): p. 14.

Bulletin of the DIA 29, no. 4. p. 86 (ill.).

Clive, R. Sketches between the Persian Gulf and the Black Sea. London, 1982.

Layard, A. H. Nineveh and its Remains, vol. 1. London, 1849, pp. 60, 379; New York, 1854, pp. 68, 307.

"Family Art Game," Detroit News (April 14, 1985): p. 25 (ill.). [DIA Advertising Supplement].

100 Masterworks from the Detroit Institute of Arts. DIA. New York, 1985, p. 24, 25 (ill.).

"Family Art Game: Details, Details, Details," The Detroit Free Press (April 29, 1990) p. 9 (ill.). [DIA Advertising Supplement].

Henshaw, Julia P., ed. A Visitor's Guide: The Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1995, p. 96.

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Assyrian, Mesopotamian; Neo-Assyrian, Mesopotamian, The Assyrian King Tukul-apil-esharra III (also called Tiglath-pileser III) Receiving Homage, 745 - 727 BCE, gypsum alabaster. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Ralph Harman Booth Bequest Fund, 50.32.