King standing on two crouching sphinxes and holding in each hand lion suspended by hind leg
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between 550 B.C. and 450 B.C.
eyestone
32 x 15 mm
Morgan Seal 824
Provenance:
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes:
"Seals 819-825 show the motif most frequently encountered in Achaemenian cylinders--that of a king holding at bay or subduing two monsters or lions, rendered in a symmetrical composition recalling the Assyrian cylinders 753-763. The king wears the billowy Persian garments in all of these scenes, except for the occurrence of the fringed Assyrian mantle in 822 ... Seals 824 and 825 show the king standing on two sphinxes, as in seal impressions found in the treasury of Persepolis, dating from the time of Darius and Xerxes."--Porada, CANES, p. 103
Summary:
King standing on two crouching sphinxes and holding in each hand lion suspended by hind leg -- Terminal: palm tree, winged sun disk above it.
Period:
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