Exhibition: Art and Empire - Treasures from Assyria in the British Museum

Art Daily

"Tenuous" seems to be the word of the month. We need more sphinxes to be uncovered! This exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in about the Assyrian art of Iraq. It might be of interest to anyone examining the links between Egypt and neighbouring civilizations.

This exhibition showcases 250 objects from the British Museum, which has the finest collection of Assyrian art outside of Iraq, found in palaces and temples dating from the 9–7th centuries BC located at Kalhu (present-day Nimrud) and Nineveh along the Tigris River in northern Iraq. Art and Empire is a collaboration between the British Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

“The Neo-Assyrian empire—which encompassed much of today’s Middle East—represents a fascinating period, and this exhibition highlights the grand palaces, monumental wall reliefs, and rare artifacts of its kings,” said Malcolm Rogers, Ann and Graham Gund Director of the MFA. “This spectacular collection also gives visitors the opportunity to explore the power, majesty, and sophistication of an ancient civilization that was little understood until it was rediscovered by archeologists less than two centuries ago.”

Art and Empire chronicles Assyria’s rise from a small landlocked kingdom in northern Mesopotamia to a magnificent empire stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea. Its territories encompassed all of present-day Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, as well as large parts of Israel, Egypt, Turkey, and Iran—the greatest dominion known until that time.