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.

Eagle grasping man seated on ground and kneeling centaur

between 2139 and 2113 B.C.
black serpentine ;
Morgan Seal 264
Description
1 cylinder seal : black serpentine ; 23 x 11 mm
Provenance
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes
"Seals 264-266, each of which presents a frieze with an eagle in the center, are characterized as Post-Akkad stones by their deeply incised engraving. Moreover, the eagle in 264 and 265 corresponds with a similar figure in Berlin 247, a seal showing in its lower register the birds found to be distinctive of Post-Akkad cylinders (258, 260)." Porada, CANES, p. 32
Summary
Eagle grasping at one side man seated on ground, at other kneeling centaur -- In field: star; crescent; inscription.
Classification
Place
Southern Mesopotamia.
Department