between 1300 B.C. and 1155 B.C.
lapis lazuli ;
Morgan Seal 586
Description
1 cylinder seal : lapis lazuli ; 41 x 16 mm
Provenance
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes
"The first four seals of the present group (586-589) are engraved in the style that prevailed in Assyria in the fourteenth century B.C. They show the same delicate modeling of the figures as the seals of that style, and a somewhat similar treatment of the space. It seems likely, therefore, that they date from the same time... Seals 586 and 587 each bear a lengthy inscription of the type mentioned above as characteristic of earlier Kassite seals. Moreover, 586 presents in its fish-men with flowing vases a theme that appears to be specifically Kassite, since it occurs in two Kassite seal designs and is not found on contemporaneous Middle Assyrian cylinders." Porada, CANES, p. 66
Summary
In each upper corner: reversed vase spouting streams along which two fishes swim toward each other above, two others toward center below -- Center: figure on one knee, holding vase that emits two streams converging in another vase below -- In each lower corner: fish-man holding flowing vase -- Terminal: inscription.
Catalog link
Classification
Place
Southern Mesopotamia.
Department