Describing one section of a royal palace that he had uncovered in the Assyrian capital of Nineveh, archaeologist Austen Layard wrote: “The ceilings... were divided into square compartments, painted with flowers, or with the figures of animals.
روی بعضی از این قطعات مربع‌شکل خاتم‌کاریهایی از عاج دیده می‌شد که حاشیه‌های هر کدام از آنها با منبت‌کاریهای زیبایی مُزَیّن بود .‏