Both figures here (Pl. XV) wear a bracelet on either wrist and two armlets on their sinewy arms, while a necklace encircles their bull-like necks. Ashur-naṣir-pal, like all Assyrian kings, has a thick crop of hair and a very strong beard. Shalmaneser II, his son and successor, wears much the same dress as his father and the same conical head-gear (cf. Fig. 44), but Sennacherib one hundred and twenty years later is no longer content with the simple yet dignified dress of Ashur-naṣir-pal and Shalmaneser, but assumes a far richer and costlier set of robes (cf. Fig. 31). The royal mantle is not merely decorated with a fringe but is most elaborately embroidered throughout, while his crown is also far more ornate than those worn by his Nimrûd predecessors, but his attitude is precisely the same as that of Ashur-naṣir-pal in Pl. XV. Both kings are holding a bow in their left hand and two arrows in their right. The regal and ceremonial costume of Ashur-bani-pal contrasts similarly with that of Ashur-naṣir-pal and his immediate successors—his dress resembling that of Sennacherib in its general ornateness (cf. Pl. XX) while even the costume which he wears while reclining at meat in his garden is far more elaborate than that worn by Ashur-naṣir-pal on the highest ceremonial occasions (cf. Pl. XXI). Some uncertainty exists regarding the dress-materials used by the Assyrians. Many garments were doubtless made of wool or woollen stuffs as in the other period, but a kind of cotton was also used, for Sennacherib states that he imported trees that bore wool or hair, from the south, and that the wool or hair was subsequently clipped and utilized for the manufacture of garments. There is the same uncertainty as to the materials used in embroidery, but there is no doubt about the skill of the embroiderer, who must have been a veritable artist, if we may judge from the bas-relief representations of his work, a good example of which is reproduced in Layard, Pl. 9. He clearly did not confine himself to designs but aspired to artistic representations and scenic effects. Conventional palm-trees, and four-winged monsters are the most conspicuous features. One of these monsters is grasping one of the back legs of a lion in either hand, while the lions are making ruthless attacks on passively resisting bulls.