Neo-Assyrian Winged Genie

Neo-Assyrian Winged Genie

This Neo-Assyrian relief of a human-headed winged genie before a sacred tree was excavated from the Northwest Palace of King Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud near Mosul, Iraq in the early 1970s. The relief dates from the period between 883 and 859 BCE.

Around the time of the First Gulf War in 1991, the relief, which is over 4 feet high and weighs over 700 pounds, was stolen by unknown persons from the archaeological site museum.

The sculpture's whereabouts were unknown until 2002, when it appeared in the possession of a London art dealer. The London Metropolitan Police seized the sculpture and its Art and Antiquities Unit launched an investigation. Two archaeologists, Samuel Paley and Richard Sobolewski, who were part of the original Polish excavation team that discovered the work, identified it as the upper portion of a slab from the Palace complex.

British authorities held the relief in storage with the Metropolitan Police for 22 years, allegedly due to an ownership dispute between a private individual and the Iraqi government.

The piece was finally repatriated to Iraq in 2024, marking a significant achievement for the Government of Iraq’s “Retrieval Diplomacy” efforts.

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Sculpture – statues, carvings, bronzes, reliefs, figurines

Neo-Assyrian

Iraq

Emily Primmer-Pyke

Lisa Duffy-Zeballos