Goddess in nimbus facing worshiper

between 800 and 700 B.C.
pink chalcedony
9 x 24.5 x 19.5 mm
Morgan Seal 791
Provenance: 
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes: 

"The stamp seals... that can be related to Neo-Asyrian cylinders (789-794) have been grouped as Neo-Assyrian, even though it is possible that some of them were not made in Assyria. In 791, which is definitely Assyrian, though scaraboid in shape, the worshiper and the deity in a nimbus are figures already encountered in similar renderings in such drilled-style seals as 691 and 698. The modeling of these figures in 691 is believed to reflect a lingering of Middle Assyrian influence (p. 84), but in 791 such modeling as is apparent suggests rather than influence of the modeled style of the latter part of the eighth century."--Porada, CANES, p. 97

Summary: 

Goddess in nimbus facing worshiper.

Classification: 
Department: