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Relief of a Persian guard
Near Eastern, Iranian, Persian
Achaemenid, reign of Xerxes
486–465 B.C.
Place of Origin: Iran, Persepolis, Palace of Xerxes
Medium/Technique
Limestone
Dimensions
Overall: 53 × 46.5 × 9.2 cm (20 7/8 × 18 5/16 × 3 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Archibald Cary Coolidge Fund
Accession Number40.170
CollectionsAncient Egypt, Nubia and the Near East
ClassificationsArchitectural elements – Relief
DescriptionThis figure is one of the Achaemenid king's elite guard, who were called the Ten Thousand Immortals because if one soldier fell in battle, another would immediately step forward to take his place. The fragment was part of a long frieze depicting a single file of the Immortals. The relief was most likely once brightly painted with hues of yellow, blue, and purple.
ProvenanceFrom the façade of the West Stairs, Palace of Xerxes, Persepolis; between 1878 and about 1931, removed from the Palace of Xerxes [see note]. 1940, sold by Dikran G. Kelekian (dealer), New York, to the MFA for $12,500. (Accession Date: April 11, 1940)
NOTE: This relief was photographed in situ in 1878 and published by F. Stolze and F. C. Andreas, Persepolis: die achaemenidischen und sasanidischen Denkmäler und Inschriften (Berlin, 1882), vol, 1, pls. 22 and 23. It was probably on the market by 1931. Kelekian acquired at least five Persepolis reliefs from Sassoon Frères in Paris between 1931 and 1933, though it is not known for certain that this was among them. See Lindsay Allen, " 'The Greatest Enterprise': Arthur Upham Pope, Persepolis and Achaemenid Antiquities," in Arthur Upham Pope and a New Survey of Persian Art, ed. Y. Kadoi (2016), p. 146. Many thanks to Dr. Allen for her assistance.
NOTE: This relief was photographed in situ in 1878 and published by F. Stolze and F. C. Andreas, Persepolis: die achaemenidischen und sasanidischen Denkmäler und Inschriften (Berlin, 1882), vol, 1, pls. 22 and 23. It was probably on the market by 1931. Kelekian acquired at least five Persepolis reliefs from Sassoon Frères in Paris between 1931 and 1933, though it is not known for certain that this was among them. See Lindsay Allen, " 'The Greatest Enterprise': Arthur Upham Pope, Persepolis and Achaemenid Antiquities," in Arthur Upham Pope and a New Survey of Persian Art, ed. Y. Kadoi (2016), p. 146. Many thanks to Dr. Allen for her assistance.