Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin

two Cypriot-source pieces: the basalt stele of Sargon II from Kition (VA 968) and a bronze torch-holder, both from 1845; displayed in Room 3 as of Merrillees 2016 (2016)

Recke 2012, p. 107Merrillees 2016

1. April–June 1846
   Competing interest: British consul Niven Kerr alerts the Foreign Office and BM (opening offer 20 pounds; the BM later authorises 50); Mas Latrie urges the French authorities to buy for the Louvre. Neither succeeds.

   LarnacaNiven KerrLouis de Mas LatrieMerrillees 2016

2. August 1846
   The Königliche Museen buy the stele: Berlin records give 3000 florins (2042 thalers), total with transport 2844 thalers; another account says the Prussian consul paid 7000 francs. The buyers' agents sliced about 13 cm off the back for shipment (detected by Karen Radner from squeezes sent to the BM before 22 June 1846). It is the first Assyrian monument in Berlin.

   LarnacaJacob MatteiKaren RadnerMerrillees 2016

3. 1847
   The Prussian government donates a plaster cast of the stele to the Louvre, shown to acclaim in 1847; it has since disappeared. Other casts: Halle, the Met, Harvard Semitic Museum (bought 1890, received 1891), Larnaca Museum (said to be a GDR gift to Makarios in the 1960s-70s).

   ParisMerrillees 2016

4. 1896
   Marius Tano tells the French consul Boysset the stele and a marble statue were found on his property; Merrillees treats the claim with caution (Tano arrived in 1890; the Artemis statue went to Vienna).

   LarnacaMerrillees 2016

5. 2016
   Merrillees publishes his study of the stele's findspot and history, noting it is displayed in Room 3 of the Vorderasiatisches Museum (VA 968). Lutz Martin of the museum is cited for the monument's weight.

   BerlinRobert Stuart MerrilleesLutz MartinMerrillees 2016

• Basalt stele of Sargon II of Assyria (dated to his third year, 707 BC), cuneiform

  VA 968from Larnaca (Kition), in rubblevia Jacob MatteiAugust 1846Merrillees 2016Recke 2012, p. 107

• Bronze torch-holder

  via Ludwig Ross1845Recke 2012, p. 107