Thursday, July 3, 2014 A
"Going to the MFA!"
9:59pm

A simple oatmeal breakfast with raisins and walnuts was tastier than I thought it would be, and then we were ready for the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Taking the cab to preserve our strength for the museum trekking was a good idea.


Oh, the excitement upon seeing the steps leading to its doors!


Seeing me photograph Julia, a nice lady took a photo of the two of us together.

Bee-line to the ancient Egyptian things, but first some other 'ancient' areas demanded at least a few photographs. Another of those Assyrian god-dudes holding the pine cone, an intriguing Hershey's kiss shaped helmet, some pieces with Egyptian influence...


Relief of a winged genie (apkallu) facing left, holding a bucket and cone, fertilizing the "sacred tree." "Standard Inscription" of Ashurnasirpal II across center of slab.
Neo-Assyrian Period, reign of King Ashurnasirpal II (883 B.C.-859 B.C.E.)
From the Northwest Palace at Kalhu (Nimrud), Assyria (present–day Iraq)
Size: 221.7 x 176.3 cm (87 5/16 x 69 7/16 in.) Charles Amos Cumming Fund, 1935, MFA #35.731


Detail of Relief of a winged genie (apkallu), holding the pinecone...
Charles Amos Cumming Fund, 1935, MFA #35.731


Bronze Urartian helmet, 8th century B.C.E.
"Helmets of this type were worn by the Assyrians and some of their neighbors from the tenth to the late seventh centuries B.C.E.[...] This helmet bears an insignia peculiar to those excavated at the Urartian citadel at Karmir-Blur, near Yerevan, capital of Armenia.
Egyptian Curator's Fund with gift of Mrs. Horace L. Mayer, 1981, MFA #1981.25


Egyptian-style ivory Furniture Inlay,
Found in the Assyrian palace at Calakh in Iraq, Phoenician and Syrian, 8th century B.C.E.
"As the Assyrians extended their empire westward to the borders of Egypt, they developed a taste for objects decorated in the Egyptian style. Although hundred of Egyptian-style objects have been found in Assyrian palaces like that at Calakh (Nimrud), most were produced in Phoenician cities on the coast of Lebanon and Syria." (From the info card.)
This particular plaque is "cut to receive inlays, with a pair of sacred eyes and rearing cobras flanking a pillar ([Djed] symbol of eternity)"
Helen and Alice Colburn Fund: Purchased from the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, 1965; MFA #65.919

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