Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Ancient Western Asian Seals & Tablets

Hero with curved sword attacking fallen mouflon
between 1300 B.C. and 1200 B.C.
Ibexes and hero
between 1300 B.C. and 1200 B.C.
Lion attacking bull
between 1300 B.C. and 1200 B.C.
Lion attacking fallen mouflon
between 1300 B.C. and 1200 B.C.
Lion attacking stag ascending mountain
between 1300 B.C. and 1200 B.C.
Lion-griffin attacking bull
between 1300 B.C. and 1200 B.C.
Lion-griffin in grasp of bearded hero with ax
between 1300 B.C. and 1200 B.C.
Tree on mountain beside three shoots and stag
between 1300 B.C. and 1200 B.C.
Winged hero brandishing sword and grasping ostrich
between 1200 B.C. and 1000 B.C.
Griffin in grasp of griffin-demon
between 1200 B.C. and 1000 B.C.
Griffin-demon tearing branch from tree
between 1200 B.C. and 1050 B.C.
Winged lion-griffin attacked by hero with curved sword
between 1200 B.C. and 1000 B.C.
Archer attacking lion-griffin
between 700 B.C. and 500 B.C.
Charging bull
between 900 B.C. and 775 B.C.
God with sword and quiver striding over bull-headed dragon and aiming at lion-griffin
between 1000 B.C. and 700 B.C.
Goddess with ring and scimitar on star-studded throne
between 810 B.C. and 790 B.C.
Man prodding plowing ox
between 900 B.C. and 700 B.C.
Two figures attacking bearded hero with curls
between 1000 B.C. and 700 B.C.
Attendant waving palm whisk over table before seated king
between 701 B.C. and 601 B.C.
Centaur attacking winged bull
between 701 B.C. and 601 B.C.

The Morgan's seals collection is one of the most distinguished in the United States and among the best known in the world. Generally only an inch in height, engraved seals are among the smallest objects ever produced by sculptors. They were carved in great detail with simple tools on semiprecious stones. These engraved objects provide a continuous artistic and chronological sequence of more than three thousand years. The seals collection covers all the significant styles of Mesopotamian engraving from the end of the fifth millennium B.C. to the fourth century B.C. as well as most of the styles of other countries of ancient Western Asia. Areas of particular strength include seals of the second millennium B.C. made outside southern Mesopotamia (Cappadocia, Syria, and Mitannia) as well as Old Babylonian and Neo-Assyrian seals. The Middle Assyrian seals are among the finest in any collection.

Pierpont Morgan collected nearly three thousand cuneiform tablets, the bulk of which are now in the Yale Babylonian Collection, which he founded. The Morgan's collection also includes cuneiform tablets and a few outstanding art objects from ancient Western Asia.

Between 1885 and 1908, the American collector William Hayes Ward assembled, probably on Pierpont Morgan's behalf, a collection of 1,157 seals. This became the core of the Morgan's holdings. Two additional major gifts—the collection of Robert F. Kelley, given by his sister Caroline M. Burns in 1977, and that of Jonathan P. Rosen, a study collection, given in 1986—have enhanced the Morgan's holdings in this area.

Ancient Western Asian seals on display in The North Room of J. Pierpont Morgan's Library »

We acknowledge with grateful thanks Jeannette and Jonathan P. Rosen's generous underwriting support for the activities of the Department of Ancient Western Asian Seals and Tablets.