Image Details

Scala/Art Resource, NY

The so-called Mona Lisa of Nimrud (the ancient Assyrian city of Kalhu, in northern Iraq) confidently peers out across the millennia. The 6.5-inch-high ivory panel, originally inlaid in a piece of furniture, was excavated in the palace of the Assyrian king Sargon II (721–705 B.C.), conqueror of the Kingdom of Israel.This panel has not been reported missing.