Carved Ivory Furniture Panels from Nimrud: A Coherent Subgroup of the North Syrian Style

In the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art are a number of carved ivory plaques excavated at the Assyrian capital of Nimrud, and dating to the early first millennium B.C. Included in the group are ten plaques and two complete panels that belonged to a group of approximately nineteen decorated pieces of furniture stacked in Room SW7 of Fort Shalmaneser. The chapter offers four conclusions regarding fine ivory work in the early first millennium B.C. First, Barnett, suggested that the entire group was carved at Hamath, which he proposed as the center of ivory working. Second, the SW7 assemblage provides information about the organization of craft production during this period. Third, the closely related panels in the SW7 collection exhibit a range in quality and treatment of the single iconographic theme. Finally, close ties must have existed between other classes of objects and their decoration at this time.Keywords: Assyrian period; carved ivory furniture panels; Fort Shalmaneser; Nimrud; north Syrian style; Room SW7