Three walking horned animals, star, and bird

between 3400 B.C. and 3000 B.C.
black steatite
41 x 2 mm
Morgan Seal 1078
Provenance: 
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes: 

"The motif--an animal row--unquestionably resembles that in the Jamdat Nasr seals 17-21. However, the angular execution is similar to that of a stamp seal found at Hama in Syria in layers dated by the excavator at the end of the third millennium. It is of course possible that the seal was actually made much earlier, since similar stamp seals were found at Tepe Gawra in stratum VIII, which has been dated as not later than the Jamdat Nasr period. It is equally possible, on the other hand, that the style of such stamp seals, and of cylinders engraved in the same way, continued to be employed for a considerable length of time."--Porada, CANES, p. 152

Summary: 

Three walking horned animals, star above back of one, bird above each of others.

Classification: 
Department: