Archer and charioter in horse-drawn chariot menaced by lion

between 2900 B.C. and 2400 B.C.
black serpentine
49 x 16 mm
Morgan Seal 1100
Provenance: 
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes: 

"While the subject of this cylinder--a lion hunt from a chariot--resembles that of a relief of Ashurnasirpal II (Layard, Monuments of Nineveh, pl. 10), the arrangement of the figures, the dentated border, and the design of the tree all deviate from Assyrian renderings of such elements. Of these deviations, the one that furnishes some suggestion in regard to the classification of this seal is the form of the tree, which in its chandelier-like shape somewhat resembles a tree design on a cylinder found at Van (C.F. Lehmann-Haupt, "Materialen zur alteren Geschichte Armeniens und Mesopotamiens," Abhandlungen der koniglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen [Phil-hist. Kl.], new ser., IX [no. 3, 1907], 108, fig. 80). Hence it seems possible that 1100 originated in the region of Van, where Assyrian influence was prevalent even before the Urartian kingdom there was destroyed by Sargon II."--Porada, CANES, p. 155
Damaged cylinder.

Summary: 

Above: archer and charioteer back to back in chariot drawn by horse that is menaced by lion, which is in turn aimed at by archer who initiates scene; under horse, second lion(?) -- Beside bow of archer, bird(?) -- Under first lion and above rein of horse, row of wedges -- Below: tree and spiral design before winged walking sphinx followed by winged(?) stag.

Classification: 
Department: