Both in the furniture art of the Aramaic kingdoms and in that of the Phoenician city-states, there are frequent references to the Sacred Tree. A plate in champlevé (cat. 477) shows a stylised date palm, which already appears in Mesopotamian art of the 3rd millennium. Plaques of this type were either used separately as a decorative element between the crosspieces and the top of a small tripod table, or combined in a frieze of three to seven plaques to decorate the sides or the front of a small footstool. E.G.