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.This example shows a winged human-headed figure holding a small bucket in his left hand. Often figures with such buckets hold in their other hand a cone, called by the Assyrians a "purifier," but in this case the right hand is instead empty and raised in a beneficent gesture. The lower part of the bucket is decorated with the scale pattern used in Mesopotamian art to signify mountains and hilly terrain. The figure wears a diadem and bracelets adorned with rosettes, as well as armbands, a necklace of beads, and large