Openwork plaque with a sphinx striding through a floral landscape ca. 9th-8th century B.C. Assyrian A sphinx, a fantastic creature drawn from Egyptian art that combines the head of a human with the body of a winged lion, strides through a landscape of voluted palmette flowers, buds, and tendrils in this rectangular openwork plaque. This piece was found in a storeroom at Fort Shalmaneser, a royal building at Nimrud that was probably used to store tribute and booty collected by the Assyrians while on military campaign. The slender proportions of this composite creatures leonine body and curling tail are frequently found on Phoenician ivories, as are several elements drawn from Egyptian art including the pschent crown (the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt), the chevron-patterned apron hanging from its chest, the nemes cloth (a royal, pleated headdress), and the uraeus (a mythical, fire-spitting serpent) that projects from its apron. However, the facial features, including the large