Relief panel ca. 883-859 B.C. Assyrian This panel from the Northwest Palace at Nimrud (ancient Kalhu) depicts a winged supernatural figure. Such figures appear throughout the palace, sometimes flanking either the figure of the Assyrian king or a stylized "sacred tree." The reliefs were painted, but today almost none of the original pigment survives. However, the reliefs themselves retain incredible detail, including intricate incised designs on many of the figures clothing.In most rooms of Nimruds Northwest Palace, the reliefs showing magical figures had a single, overlifesize pictorial register, with the "Standard Inscription" in the center cutting across the imagery. The relief shown here, however, is at half-height because it comes from a room in which two registers of imagery were separated by a central band containing the inscription. It is not clear why the design is different in these rooms, although their position in the palace suggests they had special ritual significance. O