Two seated female figures with vessels; cows lying on mountains

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between 3400 B.C. and 3000 B.C.
green serpentine
21.5 x 20 mm
Morgan Seal 7
Provenance: 
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes: 

"Uruk features on this seal are the bull, rendered with considerable plasticity and without pronounced use of the drill, and the mountains, rendered like those in a seal impression of the Uruk period. However, pigtailed figures, squatting on a bench or a mat and associated with pots, are one of the most usual features of Jamdat Nasr seals. They are rendered in 7, as also in 8-16, by means of a few drill holes, with thin lines for the arms and pigtail. The presence of cows in 7... suggests that the function of the pigtailed figures is the preparation of dairy products, perhaps for ritual purposes." Porada, CANES, p. 4

Summary: 

"Two figures each squatting on bench or mat, alternating with two cows each lying on mountain, pot before each cow." Porada, CANES, p. 5

Place: 
Southern Mesopotamia.
Classification: 
Department: