Morganmobile: Metamorphosis

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Side-by-side scenes on this five-thousand-year-old cylinder seal depict leather workshops, where nude men work with mallets and animal skins. The scenes are divided by entwined serpo-felines, fantastic composite creatures with bodies and heads of lions and long twisting serpent necks. The combined qualities of feline and reptile produce a creature stronger than any real-world being. The serpo-felines act as guardians of an enterprise that was closely associated with the spiritual, social, and economic center of the community: the temple. The nudity of the workmen emphasizes the ritualization of labor itself as part of the temple economy.

Ancient cylinder seal with modern impression: Leather Workers in Rooms Framed by Serpo-Felines, Mesopotamia, Late Uruk period (ca. 3500–3100 b.c.); serpentine. Overall: 1 3/16 x 1 in. (3 x 2.5 cm.). Morgan Seal 1. Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.