Bearded hero beside bird

between 2900 B.C. and 2400 B.C.
marble
27 x 15 mm
Morgan Seal 1084
Provenance: 
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes: 

"The occurrence of a bull-man and a nude bearded hero as animal conquerors may argue for a dating in the Early Dynastic or in the Akkad period, when such figures were most frequently represented in this role. However, the fact that they appear thus in 980, a Syrian seal, indicates that the bull-man and the nude bearded hero were occasionally represented in a comparable context in the Syrian glyptic of the second millennium. The fact that 1084 shows use of a fine drill, as well as the occurrence of rosettes, should perhaps be regarded as indicating Mitannian influence,which in turn would imply an origin in the fifteenth or fourteenth century. Since no parallel pieces have appeared in excavations, the classification of this stone remains in doubt."--Porada, CANES, p. 153-154

Summary: 

Upper field: bearded hero (in profile) beside bird -- Indeterminate design above rosette -- Five horned animals rampant -- Lower field: horned animal, rampant over rosette, in grasp of nude bearded hero -- Horned animal grasped by bull-man -- Three horned animals rampant above lion standing two rosettes.

Classification: 
Department: