Tree approached by griffin

between 700 B.C. and 501 B.C.
rock crystal
16 x 7.5 mm
Morgan Seal 740
Provenance: 
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes: 

"Most of the seals of this style [cut-style]... date from the first millennium. They can be divided into an earlier group, dated approximately in the ninth or eighth century B.C. (724-733), and a later, belonging probably to the seventh and sixth centuries (734-746)... Seal 740 is included in this group because it shows a tree resembling that in 738. The engraving of this seal, however, is executed with much more care than that of the other seals of the group, and the subject--a griffin with an indefinable animal above it--remains unparalleled."--Porada, CANES, p. 89
Damaged cylinder.

Summary: 

Tree approached by griffin; above latter, indefinable monster.

Place: 
Southern Mesopotamia.
Period: 
Classification: 
Department: