Handle of a flywhisk or fan ca. 8th-7th century BC Assyrian Both sides of this handle are decorated with two figures kneeling before a stylized tree, an image perhaps related to similar ritual scenes on reliefs from Assyrian palaces. Such Assyrian style ivories are usually carved using an incised technique, but this is a rare example carved in relief. As the figures are beardless, they may be eunuchs or, more likely, women. They are shown plucking what may be pomegranates, a fruit whose many seeds led it to be associated with fertility. Handles in a similar form are shown on the reliefs of Ashurbanipal, an Assyrian king who ruled during the seventh century B.C., with long feathers inserted in the hollow cylinders at the top, suggesting how this handle may have originally looked. Based on the scene depicted on the handle and the location where it was excavated, within the private residential areas of the palace, it has been suggested that the fan was used by Assyrian royal women.Built b