‘My highlight of 2018’ — An ancient Assyrian relief
Antiquities specialist G. Max Bernheimer on how this massive relief from Nimrud in modern-day Iraq came to be the second-most expensive work of ancient art ever sold at auction
This 3,000-year-old, 7ft-high sculpted gypsum relief was discovered by the British diplomat Sir Austen Henry Layard after be began excavating the Northwest Palace of the Assyrian King Ashurnasirpal II in 1845. Nine such panels from the palace were acquired by an American missionary, Dr Henri Byron Haskell, via Layard.
‘Haskell paid $75 to ship each relief down the Tigris river from Nimrud to Baghdad, then on to Mumbai and finally to Boston,’ says G. Max Bernheimer, Christie’s International Head of Antiquities. ‘The three reliefs destined for the Virginia Theological Seminary [where this panel has resided ever since] arrived in 1860, a year before the American Civil War broke out, and were among the first documented pieces of ancient art ever to reach American soil.’
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An Assyrian gypsum relief of a winged genius, reign of Ashurnasirpal II, circa 883-859 BC. 7 ft 4 in x 6 ft 5 in (223.5 cm x 195.5 cm). Sold for $30,968,750 on 31 October 2018 at Christie’s in New York
Over a century later, in 1994, another of the Assyrian panels discovered by Layard that had been owned by Canford School in Dorset, England, sold at Christie’s for a record-breaking $11.9 million. The Virginia Theological Seminary called G. Max Bernheimer to explain that they had three similar reliefs in their library, and asked for an insurance valuation.
‘This was one of the last opportunities for someone to own one of these panels, since almost all the others are dispersed across museums around the globe’ — G. Max Bernheimer
‘Over the years I kept visiting the Seminary, who eventually realised that the sale of one of their reliefs could provide a substantial boost to scholarship funds,’ says the specialist. ‘So we agreed to auction it for them. The project became the culmination of more than 20 years’ effort, and the panel’s unveiling at Christie’s in New York ahead of the auction attracted enormous attention.’
Th relief depicts a winged figure known as apkallu, or ‘genius’
The relief was the last of 87 lots in an Antiquities sale on 31 October, and after a furious bidding battle the hammer finally fell at a price of $30,968,750 (including buyer’s premium) — a new world record for any Assyrian work of art, and the second most expensive piece of ancient art ever sold at auction.
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‘The exceptional result reflected the rarity, quality and condition of the relief,’ says Bernheimer, ‘but also the fact that this was one of the last opportunities for someone to own one of these panels, since almost all the others are dispersed across 60 or so museums around the globe.’