The process by which these coloured clay reliefs are supposed to have been made is as follows: a layer or slab of plastic clay of a fair size was taken, and on this surface the complete picture was modelled in relief, the process thus far being the same as that employed in the ordinary stone bas-reliefs, except that a chisel was in requisition there while here the hands would suffice, though it seems probable that moulds were at all events made for some of the lions, many of which are apparently entirely uniform. However that may be, the slab of clay now bearing in relief the figure determined, is supposed to have been cut up into rectangular blocks of the same size as the ordinary bricks, each rectangle being marked, with a view to simplifying the task of fitting each into its right place in the picture; after this, each piece was painted with a coat of coloured varnish, and then thoroughly baked in the oven—the thoroughness of the baking is attested by the hardness of the enamel—after which the various parts were fitted together. In the same way at Nimrûd, Layard found a large number of enamelled bricks, bearing the figures of animals and flowers as well as cuneiform characters, lying promiscuously upon the floor of the entrance passages to the palace, upon the unpainted backs of which rude designs, chiefly consisting of men and animals, were drawn in black ink or paint, “and marks having the appearance of numbers.” The marks alluded to must have presumably served the purpose of guiding the builder in his attempt to reconstruct the picture on the wall. Coloured clay reliefs were not however the only species of pictorial representation adopted in the embellishment of the city of Babylon, or the palace of Babylon’s most illustrious king. On the southern side of the Ḳasr, a large number of beautifully glazed tiles stamped with Nebuchadnezzar’s inscription and adorned with flowers, twigs, and in one case part of a human figure—some fourteen inches high—were discovered, together with many sculptured stones bearing similar designs, the workmanship of which however was more perfect than that of the tiles. The latter have a flat surface, but they resemble the relief tiles in general technique. Many other glazed bricks were found on the eastern side of the Ḳasr, painted with various designs and displaying great delicacy—on one of them a human figure is portrayed, clad in a rich garment and holding what appears to be a spear in his left hand—these however Koldewey assigns to the Persian period. _PLATE XXX_. [Illustration: DECORATED ARCH AT KHORSABAD (_cf. Place, “Ninive,” Plates, 14, 15_)]