Openwork plaque with a sphinx at a tree ca. 9th-8th century B.C. Assyrian This fragmentary openwork plaque depicts a sphinx, a fantastic creature with a human head and the body of a winged lion. The sphinx stands on its hind legs and reaches out both paws to touch the branches of a tree, represented by a curving bunch of leafy fronds above three stylized leaves ending in a curl. These stylized leaves, called volutes, appear frequently on other carved ivory pieces from the Assyrian capital at Nimrud. Carved ivory pieces such as this were widely used in the production of elite furniture during the early first millennium B.C. They were often inlaid into a wooden frame using joinery techniques and glue, and could be overlaid with gold foil or inlaid with colored glass or stone pieces to create a dazzling effect of gleaming surfaces and bright colors. This piece has a plain border strip still visible at the top, bottom and left side, and may have been set in a wooden frame as a piece of fur