Stag attacked by archer

between ca. 721 and 705 B.C.
black serpentine
29.5 x 13 mm
Morgan Seal 621
Provenance: 
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes: 

"Seals 620-623 each show a standing archer aiming at his quarry. Of these seals only 623, made of burnt clay, can be approximately dated. Its rendering of the archer corresponds with that in Berlin 696, a frit seal dated by Moortgat about 800 B.C.... The modeling apparent in 621 may indicate that it was made far later, in the time of the modeled-style cylinders of the latter part of the eighth century. This may account for the deviation from the usual rendering of the motif: the plant detail is omitted, and the fish between the figures appears no more conspicuously than any other object in the field."--Porada, CANES, p. 73-74

Summary: 

Stag, plunging forward and attacked from rear by archer, fish between them -- Behind archer, three wedges -- In sky, seven globes, star, crescent.

Place: 
Southern Mesopotamia.
Classification: 
Department: