Genius with date spathe and pollen basket

"The central element of the ritual scenes of 770-775 is the sacred tree. In these designs it is rendered in three different ways, namely: with graceful streamers and volutes (770); within the net of lines that may connote irrigation canals surrounded by shoots (772, 773); and realistically as a palm tree (774, 775). In 770 two genii, each with palm spathe and pollen basket, flank the tree... In 770-773 the gesture of the genii and the fish-men implies that the main theme of these seals (especially 770, 773) is the act of pollination of the sacred tree... Seals 770-777 may with certainty be classified as Neo-Assyrian cylinders of the latter part of the eight and of the seventh century. For example, in 770 the genii correspond in posture and garb to genii in the murals of Sargon II..."--Porada, CANES, p. 93
Cylinder damaged.