Bird Headed Deity

The winner of the Mystery Object for January, 2010, is Jacquie Kitzelman!! Lydia Troxler answered correctly shortly after Jacquie. The object was correctly identified as the Assyrian Bird-Headed Deity located in the South West Asian Gallery on the 5th floor of the North Building. As I stated previously, this object has intrigued me for a long time. Who is Ashurnasirpal II? How did this object wind up in Denver, so far from its place of origin? How did so many of these objects of the same description get distributed to art museum all over the USA? Could this object be part of the legal controversy currently rocking the art museum world?
Ethically, who really should ‘own’ this object?

I will try to address these questions in 4 essays titled:

The Palace of Ashurnasirpal II of Assyria
Austen Henry Layard – British Adventurer and Father of Assyriology
Four Objects – Four Art Museums – Four different Provenances
Loot: Who Should Own the Art Treasures of the World?

Please click on the links to read the essays.


Joe Lantz