between 2000 B.C. and 1800 B.C.
hematite ;
Morgan Seal 298
Description
1 cylinder seal : hematite ; 15.5 x 8.5 mm
Provenance
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes
"Seals 296-305 depict worship of a figure rendered like the deified kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur, with the difference that the figure is now often seated on a temple throne, earlier reserved for gods of the pantheon. Consequently the figure may here represent not a deified king but a major deity ... standards and small, probably apotropaic objects were increasingly used by the seal cutters of this time. Seal 296, for example, shows a lion-club standard; 297 and 298, a standard in the form of a lion scimitar ... A bowlegged dwarf, a common feature in the glyptic of the First Dynasty of Babylon, appears as a full-sized figure in 298 ..."--Porada, CANES, p. 37-38
Summary
"Bowlegged dwarf before lion scimitar -- Two worshipers facing enthroned deified king or god holding cup, crescent before him."--Porada, CANES, p.38
Catalog link
Classification
Place
Southern Mesopotamia.
Department