Plaque carved in relief with Egyptianizing creature ca. 8th-7th century B.C. Assyrian This curved, trapezoidal ivory plaque was found in a storage room in Fort Shalmaneser, a royal building at Nimrud that was used to store booty and tribute collected by the Assyrians while on military campaign. It depicts a creature with the body of a winged lion, the head of a falcon, and human arms, reclining with elbows bent and palms held outwards, facing a stylized tree to the right. The figure wears a type of Egyptian headdress called a nemes headcloth, topped by a version of the Egyptian double crown which has a curled element added at the front. The stylized tree is made up of a vertical trunk topped by a blossom; presumably the other half of the tree would have been symmetrical, and was depicted on the adjoining plaque to the right when this plaque was still in its original setting. Carved ivory pieces such as this were widely used in the production of elite furniture and luxury objects during