Brian Brown. Review of "Assyrian Reliefs from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II: A Cultural Biography" by Ada Cohen and Steven E. Kangas.

A neo-Assyrian relief in the Weingreen Museum of Biblical Antiquities, Trinity College Dublin—a case study in artefact acquisition

“…Haskell was a friend of Dr Joseph Packard (then professor at Virginia Theological Seminary and later dean) and both were graduates of Bowdoin and Andover Theological Seminary (Ross 1976, 4). Ross also cites a further six pieces at Dartmouth College and in the Boston Museum of Fine Art (1976, 4 and 8;Cohen and Kangas 2010), while, as previously noted, an exact twin of the Weingreen Relief is listed as housed in the Cleveland Museum of Art (Grace 1940, 24Á5, Fig. 2).…”

“…20 Crofton's nineteenth-century account of a stamped mud-brick of Nebuchadnezzar in the museum of Trinity College reveals that he was 'unable to find out who was the donor [sic], or how it came into the Museum' (Crofton 1870Á9a, 382). Moreover, Crofton distinguishes between Trinity College's then museum (where the published mud-brick was held) and the library (where the 19 Other pieces were transported to the seminaries and museums of America (over 70 reliefs in all), albeit that this market was fuelled by a separate agenda, as often these accruals were driven by biblical interests (Cohen and Kangas 2010;Holloway 2004, 255Á6;Herbert 1964, 11). Three Assyrian reliefs which reached America in 1859 are on display in the school library at Virginia Theological Seminary.…”