Face from a colossal sphinx

myminifactory

This mysterious stone face likely served as a sphinx that formed part of a column base. Like the Assyrian human-headed winged lions and bulls, sphinxes were believed to possess protective magical powers. King Sennacherib documents how he created sphinxes out of alabaster and copper. They were used in palace inner rooms to support wooden columns adorned with precious metals. Scanned at the I Am Ashubapinal exhibition held at The British Museum in 2019 "Sphinxes of alabaster, as well as sphinxes of cast copper overlaid with silver ... I erected over them columns made from ebony, cypress, cedar, juniper and Indian wood, with gold and silver inlays." - King Sennacherib, ruled from 705 to 681 BC