Worshiper holding pail and sticks before goddess with scimitar

between 701 B.C. and 601 B.C.
olive-buff chert
20 x 10 mm
Morgan Seal 779
Provenance: 
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes: 

"Seal 779, which is almost certainly Babylonian, differs in subject from... [770-777]. It presents a worshiper before a goddess. The worshiper wears the Babylonian robe with folds at the back, and the goddess wears the Kassite feather crown of the Neo-Babylonian deities. This goddess is probably Ishtar, as may be inferred from the fact that she is standing on his emblematic lion. The cactus-like plant in 779, which occurs also in 780, may be a typical feature of Neo-Babylonian seals." . Porada, CANES, p. 94

Summary: 

Worshiper holding pail and raising two sticks(?) before goddess with scimitar standing on lion and holding latter by looped rein -- Between figures, crescent over cactus-like plant -- Star in sky.

Place: 
Southern Mesopotamia.
Classification: 
Department: