Male figure surrounded by drillings, and two worshipers facing enthroned deified king or god holding cup

between 2000 B.C. and 1800 B.C.
hematite
24 x 13 mm
Morgan Seal 297
Provenance: 
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes: 

Cylinder damaged.
"Seals 296-305 depict worship of a figure rendered like the deified kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur, with the difference that the figure is now often seated on a temple throne, earlier reserved for gods of the pantheon. Consequently the figure may here represent not a deified king but a major deity ... standards and small, probably apotropaic objects were increasingly used by the seal cutters of this time. Seal 296, for example, shows a lion-club standard; 297 and 298, a standard in the form of a lion scimitar ... Drillings apparently placed at random in the field (297) are also frequent in Isin-Larsa seals."--Porada, CANES, p. 37-38

Summary: 

Male figure surrounded by drillings -- Before him, lion scimitar and ball staff -- Two worshipers facing enthroned deified king or god holding cup, crescent before him.

Place: 
Southern Mesopotamia.
Period: 
Classification: 
Department: