Enthroned female figure receiving three female figures

between ca. 2139 and 2113 B.C.
flint
29 x 9.5 mm
Morgan Seal 258
Provenance: 
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes: 

"Seals 254-261 are distinguished by their deeply incised engraving, which is most obvious in the human faces. The subjects of these seals are all derived from Akkad designs depicting worship of deities. Ritual scenes with female participants, who are undifferentiated except by their actions (255-259), are more numerous than ritual scenes in which the principal figure is distinguished as a deity by being rendered with a horned miter (254, 260, 261) ... The birds in the lower registers of 258 and 260 are one more reason for giving a Post-Akkad date to these cylinders, because such birds occur also on cylinders such as Newell 218, which are characterized as Post-Akkad because of their Sumerian inscriptions."--Porada, CANES, p. 31-32

Summary: 

Above: enthroned female figure receiving three other female figures -- Star spade as terminal -- Below: three birds, three four-pointed stars.

Place: 
Southern Mesopotamia.
Classification: 
Department: