Bearded figure with curved staff facing bearded hero on one knee with reversed antelope in each hand

between 1600 B.C. and 1350 B.C.
hematite
22 x 13.5 mm
Morgan Seal 980
Provenance: 
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes: 

"...in 980 a single figure of this type [bull-man], seemingly hornless, appears with his hair elegantly curled in Syrian manner. The latter bull-man carries a slain animal in a scene that also includes a figure grasping vanquished animals and recalling the nude bearded hero. This representation indicates that the old association of the bull-man and the nude bearded hero was occasionally revived in Syria, though 980 seems to depict a hunting scene instead of the traditional animal contest. Also, in contrast to Mesopotomian renderings, this seal shows the hero clad in a long mantle ... it is probable that 980 was produced in the latter part of the fifteenth century, since it is engraved in the elaborate manner of that time."--Porada, CANES, p. 133

Summary: 

Bearded figure with curved staff facing bearded hero on one knee (shown full face) with reversed antelope in each hand, over sitting griffin that paws at bull-man carrying antelope by neck -- Terminal: sitting sphinxes above curving guilloche -- Below latter, two facing rampant lions with human head between them.

Classification: 
Department: