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Dick Osseman | all galleries >> Istanbul >> Museums - Müzeler >> Istanbul Ancient Orient Museum > Istanbul Arch Museum dec 2016 1812.jpg
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14-Dec-2016 Dick Osseman

Istanbul Arch Museum dec 2016 1812.jpg

Glazed brick wall decorations with inscription, offered by Assurnasirpal II. I found them described more precisely in the Berlin Vorasiatisches Museum, as “glazed knobs” and the text: “They were a favourite type of decoration in Ashur, found in various sizes in both temples and palaces, affixed to both inside and outside walls. Most of the tiles bear very delicate patters based on plant-like motifs. On the walls of some rooms in the so-called Old Palace, a number of knob tiles were discovered still fixed in their original places, at a height of almost 2 meters from the ground. They prove that these objects were originally fixed to the walls with wooden pegs. While the tiles themselves were uniformly produced in moulds, the knows were turned on a potter’s wheel. They were therefore hollow inside, allowing them to be stuck on the wooden pegs. Some of the knob tiles had short cuneiform inscriptions, for example of King Ashurnasipal II (883-859): “Palace of Ashurnasipal, king of the universe, king of Assyria, son of Tukulti-Ninurta, king of the universe, king of Assyria.”

North-Mesopotamya.

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