The fine arts' courts in the Crystal Palace.

  • Crystal Palace Company (Sydenham, London, England)
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The fine arts' courts in the Crystal Palace. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    floored with beams and planks of wood. Upon these primitive vessels they floated down the river Tigris to Busrah (Balsora), where they were shipped for England.# On the Author’s return to Assyria in 1849, further excavations were undertaken in the north-west corner of the NTimroud mound. Many new chambers were discovered belonging to the palace already partly explored, but their walls were not panelled with sculptured slabs, being simply plastered and painted with various ornamental designs and groups of figures. In one of these apart- ments, which appears to have been the royal treasury or store-house, was found an interesting collection of bronzes and other objects, con- sisting of plates, bowls and cups, elaborately embossed and engraved with a variety of elegant patterns, and with figures of men and animals ; of many large copper cauldrons ; of arms, such as arrows, swords, spear-heads and shields ; of the remains of a throne made of ivory and precious wood, encased with plates of copper embossed with various figures and designs, corresponding exactly with the representation of the royal seat in the bas-reliefs, and upon which Shalmaneser or Sennacherib himself may have sat ; of several elephant’s tusks of considerable size ; of parts of altars and tripods in bronze ; of glass bowls, and of a variety of ornaments in ivory, mother of pearl, glass, enamel and copper. These, with one beautiful glass vase, and two of alabaster, bearing the name and title of Sargon, the Assyrian king mentioned by the Prophet Isaiah ; the remains of helmets and armour ; tablets of ivory and figures in the same material, most delicately and elaborately carved, and enamelled bricks of many colours and designs, were amongst the most remarkable objects discovered in the north-west palace during the excavations. They are now mostly in the British Museum. In addition to this palace it was found that two small temples occupied the northern extremity of the platform of Nimroud, built by the same king, and forming, as it were, part of the same edifice. The most remarkable was one adjoining the base of the conical mound or pyramid—apparently dedicated to the Assyrian Hercules. Its principal gateway was guarded by a pair of gigantic human-headed Lions. An adjoining entrance was formed by sculp- tured slabs, some of which are now in the British Museum, repre- senting the Deity—to whom probably the temple was dedicated * The process of lowering and raising these colossal figures lias been fully described in the work published by the Author.