between 900 and 800 B.C.
greenish-black serpentine
34 x 11 mm
Morgan Seal 637
Provenance:
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes:
"The theme of animals flanking the sacred tree occurs in only a few linear-style seals (637, 638), though the motif is frequently found in the borders of robes on the reliefs of Ashurnasirpal II. A ninth-century dating for 637 and 638 is indicated by the correspondence with these reliefs and confirmed by the rendering of the tree in both seals, since it resembles the treatment in such ninth- or eighth-century cylinders as Berlin 673-675."--Porada, CANES, p. 75
Summary:
Two mouflons flanking tree, winged sun disk above -- In sky, two wedges, star, crescent, fish, bird.
Place:
Southern Mesopotamia.
Period:
Catalog link:
Classification:
Department: