between 2000 B.C. and 1750 B.C.
hematite
23 x 14 mm
Morgan Seal 881
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 881-883 the theme of contest between a lion and a man appears together with a worshiping scene."--Porada, CANES, p. 109-110
Cylinder chipped at top and bottom.
Summary:
Worshiper(?) beside vessel above ball staff -- Lion attacking man on one knee before god with lightning fork -- Before god, indefinable design; behind him, fish.
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