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.

Worshiper and suppliant goddess before enthroned god or king

between 1920 B.C. and 1750 B.C.
hematite ;
Morgan Seal 844
Description
1 cylinder seal : hematite ; 19 x 12.5 mm
Provenance
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan sometime between 1885 and 1908.
Notes
"The first group [of Cappadocian seals] is called Old Assyrian, because seals showing a similar deep, angular engraving have been found at Ashur (Berlin 505, 508) ... Many seals in this group depict the presentation of a worshiper by an interceding goddess to an enthroned figure holding a cup (844-851). This theme, which derives from the glyptic of the Third Dynasty of Ur, was perpetuated in Isin-Larsa and early Old Babylonian cylinders. However, several features differentiate the Old Assyrian renderings from these contemporaneous south-Mesopotamian representations. Such features are ... animals or monsters secondary to the main scene (844-846), the sun disk enclosing a cross instead of a star, and the small v-shaped designs often placed in the sky."--Porada, CANES, p. 107-108
Summary
Worshiper and suppliant goddess before enthroned god or king holding cup -- In sky, v-shaped sign, disk enclosing cross in crescent -- Terminal: pair of human-headed bulls with snake beside them.
Classification
Department