Among the most interesting of the Assyrian terra-cotta models must be mentioned those of the favourite hunting-dogs of Ashur-bani-pal (cf. Fig. 87) found in his palace at Nineveh; these same dogs can however be so much more readily studied from the stone bas-reliefs of this same king, that it will be best to forgo any detailed consideration of them here. Unfortunately it is impossible to speak with any confidence as regards the date of the vast majority of clay figures yielded by the excavations in Babylonia and Assyria; they comprise figures of gods and goddesses, as well as of dogs, lions and other animals. Some of these are fashioned in the round, others are portrayed in relief upon small plaques. One of the best preserved of these plaques is reproduced in Fig. 88. This little clay relief was discovered by Sir Henry Rawlinson at Birs-Nimrûd. A clean-shaven and semi-nude attendant is in charge of a large hound which he is leading by means of a strap. The attendant, who is armed with a stick, is more life-like than the attendants on the bas-reliefs of Ashur-bani-pal, but the dog, though spirited, cannot compare with those sculptured in hard stone on the palace walls of that same king. The innumerable terra-cotta lamps which have been excavated from time to time for the most part belong to a late period, it is however interesting to note that clay lamps were apparently in use at a very early period, even as early as the time of Bur-Sin, king of Ur (_circ._ 2350 B.C.), one of whose clay lamps was discovered at Nippur. We have already remarked that clay was probably used extensively for making moulds for casting metal objects, and it is certain that it was sometimes used by the sculptor as a material for rough sketches (cf. p. 118). The clay figures or statuettes of the earlier period were either fashioned by hand, or else stamped in a mould, but in either case they were solid, in contradistinction to the Babylonian terra-cottas of the later Greek and Roman times which were generally hollow in the interior, their outside being coated with a kind of paste by means of which the artist endeavoured to work out the details of hair, clothing, and other externalities, while they were not infrequently covered with a vitreous glaze, the colours used being blue and green. But a consideration of this later work lies beyond the scope of our volume, which is confined to a consideration of the Babylonian and Assyrian period.