Cigarette Card

Wills’s Cigarettes “Wonders of the Past” Cigarette Card #19 “Assyrian Man-headed Lion”

Produced in 1926 by W. D. & H. O. Wills.

Issued by The Imperial Tobacco Company (of Great Britain & Ireland) Ltd.

Text on reverse of card reads:

“Winged and man-headed bulls and lions, symbolising strength and protection, are the most characteristic features of Assyrian art. They stood at the gateways of palaces or temples, one on either side. This example, preserved in the British Museum, comes from the palace of Ashurnasirpal (c. 870 B.C), at Nimrud, once a suburb outside the walls of Nineveh, “the glory of kingdoms Note that the creature appears to have five legs, in order that it may show two forelegs whether viewed from the front or the side. Sometimes long inscriptions run right across the bodies of these sculptures”