10/17/2022
A lion-shaped furniture leg carved from sycamore wood. Dated to the rule of King Aspelta, reigned c. 600 BC – 580 BC, Kingdom of Kush, Sudan.
This furniture leg, probably produced in Upper Nubia (modern-day Sudan), bears the royal cartouche of the Kush*te king Aspelta. It seems to have been covered with plaster and was probably once painted. Kush*te thrones often had legs in the shape of seated lions, and it is possible that this furniture leg was once part of Aspelta's throne. Currently housed in the Brooklyn Museum.
Aspelta was a Napatan period ruler, selected by a committee of twenty-four religious and military leaders. In an apparent attempt to check Kush*te military and political ambitions in Upper Egypt, the Egyptian pharaoh Psmatik II, with the aide of Greek and Carian mercenaries, carried out a military expedition against Kush during Aspelta’s reign, and reportedly sacked the religious capital of Napata. Aspelta’s palace was burnt to the ground, royal statues were smashed, and temples in the sacred precinct show evidence of fire damage dated to this period. It is perhaps during this raid that the lion-shaped furniture piece was looted, as it was reportedly found in Egypt. Aspelta, however, was not dislodged from power, and his rule would outlast that of Psamtik II. The Upper Nubian king would eventually be buried in a pyramid in the royal cemetery of Nuri, near the old capital of Napata, and a new palace was built by one of his successors on top of the ruins of the old one.
