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.

Nude male figure and worshiper facing enthroned deified king or god holding cup

between 2000 B.C. and 1800 B.C.
hematite ;
Morgan Seal 299
Description
1 cylinder seal : hematite ; 14 x 8 mm
Provenance
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes
Cylinder damaged.
"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 ... Among small objects in the field, the combination of vessel and ball staff appears most frequently. These two objects are usually placed in a juxtaposition suggesting some relation between them (299, 302, 304, 308-310). Their association in this manner persists up to the end of the First Dynasty of Babylon."--Porada, CANES, p. 37-38
Summary
Nude male figure and worshiper facing enthroned deified king or god holding cup -- In field: ball staff; crescent and vessel (before seated figure) -- Terminal: inscription.
Classification
Place
Southern Mesopotamia.
Department