Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Suppliant goddess following worshiper with kid before god with saw

between 2000 B.C. and 1750 B.C.
hematite ;
Morgan Seal 884
Description
1 cylinder seal : hematite ; 22 x 10 mm
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. ... Seals 880-884 present figures deriving from the Old Babylonian contest frieze ... In 881-883 the theme of contest between a lion and a man appears together with a worshiping scene ... In the lower register of 884, a parallel contest group is augmented by a second figure attacking the lion."--Porada, CANES, p. 109-110
Summary
Above: suppliant goddess following worshiper carrying kid before god with saw in ascending posture -- Worshiper before enthroned deity with cup -- Below: figure with one hand upraised -- Two goats flanking tree(?) -- Figure grasping tail of lion manacing man on one knee.
Classification
Department