Skip Navigation

Apkallu-figure Fertilizing the Sacred Tree

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Ancient Middle Eastern Art, The Hagop Kevorkian Gallery, 3rd Floor
The most common scene on the reliefs from the palace of King Ashur-nasir-pal II shows winged genies caring for a sacred tree. Usually the genies hold a basket and a mysterious object resembling a pinecone. Scholars generally agree that this scene represents a pollination ritual in which the female flowers were fertilized with male seed. It is likely that visitors to the palace understood that not only were the winged genies caring for the tree, but they, along with their master the king, were also receiving its magical power.
MEDIUM Gypsum stone
GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATIONS
DATES ca. 883-859 B.C.E.
PERIOD Neo-Assyrian Period
DIMENSIONS 90 1/2 x 78 15/16 in. (229.8 x 200.5 cm) Approximate weight: 3290 lb. (1492.33kg)  (show scale)
ACCESSION NUMBER 55.151
CREDIT LINE Purchased with funds given by Hagop Kevorkian and the Kevorkian Foundation
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Alabaster relief, winged man-headed figure wearing cap with triple horns, standing between two incomplete date-palms. Figure faces right and fertilizes tree with cone grasped in right hand, in the left hand a bucket. "Standard inscription" incised across center of relief. Possibly joins with 55.152. Condition: Broken diagonally across center into five fragments. Small areas missing along breaks.
CAPTION Assyrian. Apkallu-figure Fertilizing the Sacred Tree, ca. 883-859 B.C.E. Gypsum stone, 90 1/2 x 78 15/16 in. (229.8 x 200.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by Hagop Kevorkian and the Kevorkian Foundation, 55.151. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 55.151_at_PS11.jpg)
IMAGE overall, after treatment, 55.151_at_PS11.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2021
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.