between 900 B.C. and 800 B.C.
black serpentine
36.5 x 13 mm
Morgan Seal 641
Provenance:
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes:
"Seal 640 portrays the worshipers wearing peaked miters; this is the characteristic headgear of Assyrian kings. The two kneeling figures may therefore be regarded as a twofold rendering of the king. This theme is found in the reliefs of Ashurnasirpal II. Furthermore, the occurrence of the chevron border noted above... as distinctive of seals of the ninth century B.C., indicates a corresponding date for 640. Seal 641, portraying winged genii, shows the same type of border and may be similarly dated."--Porada, CANES, p. 76
Summary:
Tree flanked by two kneeling genii, each grasping one of two streams falling from winged sun disk above tree -- Chevron borders.
Place:
Southern Mesopotamia.
Period:
Catalog link:
Classification:
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