Worshiper throwing incense on flaming altar

between 1300 B.C. and 1155 B.C.
milky chalcedony
31 x 13 mm
Morgan Seal 588
Provenance: 
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes: 

"The first four seals of the present group (586-589) are engraved in the style that prevailed in Assyria in the fourteenth century B.C. They show the same delicate modeling of the figures as the seals of that style, and a somewhat similar treatment of the space. It seems likely, therefore, that they date from the same time... Seals 588 and 589 both present ritual themes. Although such themes occur occasionally on Assyrian cylinders of the thirteenth century, certain details of 588 and 589 possibly mark them as of Kassite origin. Seal 588 shows a horse's head on a pedestal and a bird on a pole; these are found elsewhere only on a Babylonain boundary stone. Furthermore, the garment of the worshiper resembles the apparel of the figures on an indubitably Kassite cylinder." Porada, CANES, p. 66

Summary: 

Worshiper throwing incense on flaming altar -- Behind altar, crescent standard before canopy over horse's head on pedestal and bird on pole -- Star in sky.

Place: 
Southern Mesopotamia.
Period: 
Classification: 
Department: