Figure holding vase with streams, worshiper, and priest with pail and sprinkler

between 2000 B.C. and 1750 B.C.
hematite
18 x 10 mm
Morgan Seal 872
Provenance: 
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes: 

"One or more worshipers standing with or without interceding deities before a god constitute the most frequent subject in the present group. This theme is common in Old Babylonian glyptic. Moreover, a number of the gods represented here are characterized by the same emblems as those in Old Babylonian cylinders. ... In addition to portraying gods that may be referred to Old Babylonian prototypes, the seals of this group depict gods for whom no exact parallels exist in Old Babylonian designs ... Seals 866 and 872 are included in this group with some reservation. They present subjects not paralleded in Babylonian seals: 866 shows a god holding a monkey by a leash, and 872 has a figure with ridged cap holding a flowing vase. But while the crude engraving of these two seals related them tothe Cappadocian group, they present no other typically Cappadocian features, and it is therefore possible that they originated in some other region on the periphery of Mesopotamia. ". Porada, CANES, p. 109-110

Summary: 

Figure holding vase that emits two streams, facing worshiper and priest with pail and sprinkler -- Behind figure with vase, staff crooked at both ends -- Crescent in sky -- Terminal: inscription.

Classification: 
Department: