between 2000 B.C. and 1750 B.C.
hematite
25 x 13.5 (13) mm
Morgan Seal 880
Provenance:
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes:
"One or more worshipers standing with or without interceding deities before a god constitute the most frequent subject in the present group. This theme is common in Old Babylonian glyptic. Moreover, a number of the gods represented here are characterized by the same emblems as those in Old Babylonian cylinders. ... Seals 880-884 present figures deriving from the Old Babylonian contest frieze. In 880, the principal actors are a lion attacking a goat and a lion-griffin menacing a man on one knee."--Porada, CANES, p. 109-110
Cylinder has slightly concave sides.
Summary:
Lion lifting goat by shoulder -- Man on one knee attacked by lion-griffin -- Worshiper, fish before him -- Terminal: inscription.
Period:
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