Winged Genie Pollinating the Date Palm is a large, square relief mounted to the wall beside the Museum front desk. Audio guide length: 5 minutes, 14 seconds.
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Transcript
This square wall carving is titled Winged Genie Pollinating the Date Palm. It is very large: 94 inches tall and 90 inches wide. It was made in ancient Assyria between 883 and 859 B.C.E., during the rule of King Ashurnasirpal II.
It is made of alabaster, a soft, grey stone that is easy to sculpt. Artisans sculpted this work in a style of carving known as low relief: the features of the sculpture rise only a few millimeters from the smooth stone background. Although most of the fine detail of this piece seems to project very slightly toward the viewer, a band of wedged-shaped characters is carved into the stone midway between the sculpture’s top and bottom. This writing—Akkadian cuneiform—details the wealth, power, and military success the King brought to his Kingdom.
Most of this relief, however, is occupied by an image of a winged man, seen often in Assyrian art. He is slightly larger than life, and we view him from a profile perspective as if he is standing next to us. He is carrying a bucket in his left hand, while his right hand holds a pinecone-shaped object and reaches across his chest towards a large plant. (It is thought that he is hand-pollinating this plant—a date palm—by shaking pollen from the pinecone onto the flower.)
The winged man’s chest is oriented forward toward the viewer, but his face and feet are turned toward the flowering tree. To understand his pose, try this: keeping your chest squared forward, turn your feet and head 90 degrees to your left. Imagine reaching your right arm across your chest towards a flower a foot and a half from your face. How does this pose make you feel? Off balance? This is because the relief was created in a flattened perspective common in early artworks.
[If you would like further extended description and analysis of this highly detailed sculpture, please continue listening or reading.]
This carving is one of many reliefs that decorated the walls of King Ashurnasirpal’s royal palace. Visitors would have passed hundreds of intricately carved, painted stone reliefs such as this one on their way to the palace throne room. The relief portrays a winged man, possibly modeled after King Ashurnasirpal II himself. He is performing a fertility ritual by pollinating a date palm. While this image carries symbolism of creation, writing boasting the exploits of the King overlaps the middle of the carving—a dark reminder of King Ashurnasirpal II’s violent reign.
The man in this relief is identifiable as a genie, a minor deity who symbolizes protection and divine control. His beard and long hair are elaborately styled in a pattern alternating between straight sections and tight, round coils, and he is dressed in a tight-fitting short sleeve shirt under a long, tasseled robe that opens up to expose one muscular leg.
He wears thick wedge-shaped sandals on his feet. These sandals still bear traces of black paint. We can immediately identify the figure as a powerful and divine force. Feathered wings spread open from his back. He wears a horned headdress worn by the divine. He is extremely muscular, carries a knife and sharpener, and dons lavish jewelry. Most important are his bucket and pinecone, which symbolize his power over agriculture.
Date palm trees flank the genie on both the right and left. The center of the trees are column-like trunks, but these are barely visible, cut off by the end of the relief, showing that this is just one section of a larger image. Extending from the sides of the trunks are thick tendrils that weave together in a grid-like pattern. Shell shaped flowers bloom from tendril intersections on the outer edges.
As you come even closer to the relief, you realize that something has been written across the center. The writing is in Akkadian cuneiform, a system made up of wedge-like carved hatchings. Part of the writing says “I am Ashurnasirpal… the fierce dragon, the conqueror of all cities and mountains to their full extent, the king of rulers…who forced into compliance the relentless, fierce kings from the East to the West, at his very approach.” This writing shows that King Ashurnasirpal II was a fearsome leader. The image of a deity performing a fertility ritual, contrasted with the frightening writing that praises the King as a powerful conqueror, show two opposing pictures of Ashurnasirpal II—as a ruler who is both a creator and a destroyer.
Link to next piece in highlights tour: Attic Black-Figured Eye Cup