Plaque fragment ca. 9th-8th century B.C. Assyrian This small ivory fragment was probably blackened through exposure to fire when the palace complexes at Nimrud were sacked during the final defeat of Assyria at the end of the seventh century B.C. It depicts a bearded head in profile, wearing a floppy cap, and raising one fist in front of the face. A stone relief from the Northwest Palace at Nimrud, now in the British Museum (124562), shows a figure with similar cap and gesture who seems to be a foreign dignitary. The original composition was probably similar to other Assyrian carved ivories and reliefs that show processions of court officials and foreign dignitaries bringing tribute to the king. Carved ivory pieces such as this were widely used in the production of elite furniture during the early first millennium B.C., and were often inlaid into a wooden frame using joinery techniques and glue. Ivories carved in this style, in which scenes similar to those depicted in the stone reliefs