Contest frieze with hero with mace and lion; feather-crowned hero and bull; bull-man and lion

between 2340 B.C. and 2150 B.C.
black serpentine
37 x 25 mm
Morgan Seal 144
Provenance: 
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes: 

"In the seals deriving from the beginning of the Akkad period, the Early Dynastic frieze of closely interwoven figures gradually breaks up into two or three groups of contestants... These scenes... show the lack of cohesion in composition that is characteristic of Early Akkad seals. Equally characteristic is the more developed modeling of the figures. Lastly, a number of details serve to distinguish this class of seals: the attitudes of the heroes and of the bull-men, who often show a characteristic flexion of the elbow in reaching toward the top of the victim's head; the lion's head frequently seen from above, as in the representations of the Third Early Dynastic period; the attire of the heroes, most often plain or fringed kilts, with flat caps or feather crowns appearing in several instances... A cast of this seal has been published by Legrain as Philadelphia 134, with the notation, 'Gezer, Palestine, 1912(?)'."--Porada, CANES, p. 21

Summary: 

Nude bearded hero with mace, fighting lion --Feather-crowned hero grasping bull -- Bull-man stabbing second lion -- Terminal panel: inscription over small animal leaping into bush.

Place: 
Southern Mesopotamia.
Period: 
Classification: 
Department: