God with a crook stepping on kneeling gazelle

between 1894 B.C. and 1595 B.C.
pink marble
29 x 16 mm
Morgan Seal 517
Provenance: 
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes: 

"The figure of a god holding a crook, and often shown stepping upon a kneeling gazelle, has been identified by Frankfort as that of the god Amurru. The name of this god occurs frequently in the inscriptions of Old Babylonian seals; occasionally it is found on seals depicting the god with a crook (518, 520, 523). While the inscription of a seal rarely serves to identify the god depicted on it, the group here described [i.e. Seals 517-524] presents a sufficient number of instances in which figure and inscription appear together to suggest such an identification. In 517, 518, 523 the god wears the usual horned miter of deity... In the first cylinder in the group (517) the figures of the main scene are executed with the care generally associated with the mature style of the Old Babylonian period. But subsidiary figures (which are carved over vertical lines doubtless meant to frame an inscription) manifest the deep, crude engraving found in seals from Susa (Louvre S. 495-512). It seems likely therefore that the subsidiary scene of 517 was added later by a peripheral engraver." Porada, CANES, p. 59

Summary: 

"Nude female -- Nude bearded hero holding flowing vase -- God with crook stepping on kneeling gazelle -- In field: demonic mask; star disk in crescent -- Secondary motif (engraved over vertical lines): two dancers above two facing male figures, one of latter holding human head, small bowlegged dwarf at right--entire group above rider on horse; beside column of figures thus formed, two kneeling animals facing, above two figures each with shield and dagger(?) and resting on one knee, entire group in turn above second, larger rider on horse." Porada, CANES, p. 59

Place: 
Southern Mesopotamia.
Classification: 
Department: