Fish-man with pollen basked and date spathe and worshiper

between 701 B.C. and 601 B.C.
dark-grey felsite
35 x 16 mm
Morgan Seal 775
Provenance: 
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes: 

"The central element of the ritual scenes of 770-775 is the sacred tree. In these designs it is rendered in three different ways, namely: with graceful streamers and volutes (770); within the net of lines that may connote irrigation canals surrounded by shoots (772, 773); and realistically as a palm tree (774, 775)... In 774 and 775 the tree, while still the central element, possibly appears in the scene merely because it is somehow related to the deities pictured beside it...Seals 770-777 may with certainty be classified as Neo-Assyrian cylinders of the latter part of the eight and of the seventh century.... The robe of the worshiper in 775 suggests Babylonian influence in that it has folds at the back as in garements seen on Neo-Babylonian seals..., and in that the fringe appears only at the bottom of the robe instead of being drawn over the hip as in earlier Assyrian representations like 644. The attendants in 776 are similarly clothed, suggesting that both 775 and 776 were made in or after the time of Sargon, when marked Babyylonian influence modified even the type of dress worn at court."--Porada, CANES, p. 93-94

Summary: 

Fish-man with pollen basket and date spathe following worshiper who faces deity enthroned before tree with winged sun disk above it.

Place: 
Southern Mesopotamia.
Classification: 
Department: