between 2500 B.C. and 2350 B.C.
shell ;
Morgan Seal 128
Description
1 cylinder seal : shell ; 37 x 17.5 mm
Provenance
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes
"The principal mythological subject in the Second and Third Early Dynastic periods is a god steering a boat that moves of its own accord (126-129)... Scenes such as those in the lower register of 127 and 128 often appear below the god in the boat; Frankfort interprets them as depicting the building of a temple tower... 128 and 129, which show considerable modeling, probably belong to the later phase of the Third Early Dynastic period." Porada, CANES, p. 18-19
Summary
Above: bird-man and quadruped behind boat propelled by human prow and by deity seated in its waist -- Scorpion as terminal -- Below: Row of six figures each holding brick(?) aloft, two facing figures raising brick(?) above pile; attendant before seated figure drinking through tube from vessel. No common axis of scenes of upper and lower register.
Catalog link
Classification
Place
Southern Mesopotamia.
Department