This pair of panels stood at the head of a room the surviving walls of which were otherwise panelled entirely with eagle-headed spirits and Sacred Trees. The winged, eagle-headed protective spirits (guardian angels?) carry pails in their left hands, and the cones in their right hands are for sprinkling purifying liquid. I wonder if the common Christian imagery of angels as winged humanoid beings derives from Mesopotamian culture as portrayed here.
The guy in the middle is King Ashur-nasir-pal II (884 - 859 BC), and you can read some excerpts form his annals here. The cuneiform inscription across the middle of the carvings is Ashurnasirpal's 'standard inscription,' a translation of which is available here.