Figure with oval headgear holding curved weapon and facing winged goddess holding a whip

between 1650 B.C. and 1350 B.C.
hematite
26 x 11 mm
Morgan Seal 958
Provenance: 
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes: 

"A number of cylinders (958-960) picture a winged goddess holding a spear or some other weapon that indicates her martial character. That the figure represents a goddess and not a god is indicated by the headgear, a square horned miter seen only on female deities. In 958 and 959 the goddess is attired in a tight-fitting horizontally striped skirt similar to that worn by the weather god in 964, except for the long fringe attached. In 958 she seems to clutch the headdress of a small male figure who brandishes a dagger, menacing a tall figure with oval headgear like that of the figures discussed above. Above the hand of the goddess there appears the indistinct outine of a spear. However, since the male figure facing her holds his weapon over this outline, an unprecedented rendering in such a scene, it seems likely that the artist changed the context of the scene after its outlines were drawn. The small attacking figure wears a folded cloth around his waist, like the figures in the lower register of 955. ... Seals 958 and 959 picture elaborate garments like those in 955 and may therefore be similarly dated in the fifteenth century ..." . Porada, CANES, p. 128

Summary: 

Figure with oval headgear holding curved weapon and facing winged goddess who holds whip and restrains small male figure brandishing dagger. Above hand of goddess, vertical line suggesting discarded design originally intended as spear -- Terminal: lion attacked by nude bearded hero, between one guilloche above and one below.

Classification: 
Department: