Of Assyrian royal statues that of Ashur-naṣir-pal (cf. Pl. XXIV, C) is the best preserved and the most successful. It is made of hard limestone, and measures three feet four inches in height; it was found in a broken condition along with the limestone pedestal upon which it once stood, and it now stands upon the same original pedestal in the Nimrûd Gallery of the British Museum. The total height of the statue with the pedestal is five feet eleven and a half inches. Fortunately none of the fragments of the figure were missing, and consequently it was possible to restore the statue so perfectly as to render it one of the finest Assyrian statues in existence. The king stands there, the very incarnation of impassive dignity and imperturbable majesty, and it is strange how impressive the motionless can at times be. It would perhaps be hardly true to employ such words as “life” or “animation” in attempting to describe this sculpture, but it possesses something even higher than external vigour and vitality, it has a force, an indescribable “reserve of strength,” which the absence of anything like aggressive activity only serves to enhance. The king is clad in long and elaborately made robes which reach down to his toes. The beard and hair, both of which are rich and profuse, are curled with much care and precision. The king holds in his right hand a sickle-shaped object, which is presumably meant to be a sceptre, while in his left he holds a mace with a tassel at the lower end. His left arm is concealed by the fold of his outer mantle, but the right is bare with the exception of a wrist-bracelet. The type of face bears all the acknowledged Assyrian characteristics; large, wide-open eyes, a curved nose, and the wealth of hair to which we have just referred. The proportions are fairly accurate, though the depth or thickness of the body from back to front is as usual, not sufficiently great. The king has an inscription carved upon his breast, the text of which, after having given the name and genealogy of Ashur-naṣir-pal, goes on to recount the triumphant achievements of the king in the extension of his dominion over the whole country between the river Tigris and Lebanon, and concludes by stating that he has made all the countries from the rising of the sun to the setting of the sun to submit to his feet. _PLATE XXIV_ [Illustration: STATUE OF NEBO TORSO OF A WOMAN STATUE OF ASHUR-NAṢIR-PAL (_From Dieulafoy, “L’Art Antique de la Perse,” Vol. 3. Pl. 12_)] [Illustration: FIG. 35.—Shalmaneser II. (British Museum.)]