Bringing WCMA’s Assyrian holdings together with a selection of artworks from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Yale University Art Gallery, Immortal Scripts takes a close look at inscribed objects and the many messages they convey. A second-century Syrian grave marker details a family’s lineage and commemorates a brother’s death. A fragment of the Egyptian Book of the Dead provides spells to guide the deceased to the afterlife. An example of visual propaganda from ancient times, the inscriptions on WCMA’s Assyrian reliefs attest to the power of words.
Another Step on its Journey
After more than 160 years at Williams, one of WCMA’s 1500-pound Assyrian reliefs has temporarily left the building. It joins 260 other works from the ancient Near East at the Met in Assyria to Iberia at the Dawn of the Classical Age. The Winged Guardian Spirit relief will return in late winter and join the Immortal Scripts exhibition for the spring.