Ashurnasirpal II Relief - $ 31m

Retrieved from Nimrud in modern-day Iraq in the mid-19th century. Standing more than seven feet high, this proud figure was once part of an elaborate decorative scheme that covered the walls of the Northwest Palace at Nimrud, which was constructed some 3,000 years ago. An Assyrian gypsum relief of a Winged Genius. Reign of Ashurnasirpal II, circa 883-859 BC.

The Assyrian relief sold for $30,968,750 in 2018.

The stone’s surface is covered in ‘Standard Inscription’, a cuneiform incantation that recalls Ashurnasirpal: ‘Fierce monarch, merciless hero, the word of whose mouth destroys mountains and seas…’