Permanent Installations
Ancient Near Eastern Art Reinstallation at Brooklyn Museum
By STAN PARCHIN
October 21, 2009
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Reinstallation of Kevorkian Gallery of Ancient Near Eastern Art (2009). Photograph courtesy of Brooklyn Museum. |
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Achaemenid Persian. Relief of a Persian Guard (486-480 B.C.). Persepolis, Iran. Limestone. (26.6 x 22.8 x 4.7 cm (10 1/2 x 9 x 1 7/8 in.). © The Brooklyn Museum. |
Selections from the Brooklyn Museum's collection of ancient Near Eastern art were recently reinstalled in the building's third-floor Kevorkian Gallery as part of a project to provide visitors in wheelchairs with unassisted access to the objects on view. Funded by the State of New York, the space's newly sloped floor, made of terrazzo-covered concrete, eliminated the need for two mechanized lifts next to the gallery's east and west stairs. Now the installation conforms fully to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The Kevorkian Gallery's centerpiece is its 12 carved alabaster reliefs (859 B.C.) from the palace in Nimrud of Assyrian King Ashurnasirpal II (r. 883-859 B.C.). The room's new floor necessitated the raising of two of the large-scale sculptures at its west end to meet the levels of the others. The presentation also features improved railings, signage and lighting.
The 12 Assyrian reliefs are joined by 50 objects from the ancient Sumerian, Achaemenid Persian and Sabean civilizations that once flourished in the regions of present-day Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey. One antiquity, a female fertility figure from the Halaf culture, dates back to 5000 B.C. Also on display are exquisite examples of jewelry, such as Sumerian rings, earrings and gold and semiprecious stone beads.
Relief of a Persian Guard
The Achaemenid Empire (559-330 B.C.) represents a brief but glorious period in Persian art and history, resplendent with official and private works of wall painting, sculpture and architecture. Achaemenid craftsmen were renowned for their glass and alabaster vessels, jewelry, ornate arms and weaponry as well as wooden, ivory and stone sculptures.
The Brooklyn Museum's grey limestone Relief of a Persian Guard (486-480 B.C.), cracked diagonally across the torso, is a finely carved fragment from the apadana or audience hall of Persepolis. The figure's strict profile and the remnant of a grasping left hand behind it indicate the sculpture's original place as part of a procession. The subject holds a round shield. His high fluted hat, neatly braided beard and curled coiffure are characteristic of Persian guards in the 5th Century B.C.
Source
Buechner, Thomas S., et al. The Brooklyn Museum Handbook. Brooklyn: Brooklyn Museum, 1967, 80-83.