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(?) beside vessel and lion attacking man before god with lightning fork

between 2000 B.C. and 1750 B.C.
hematite ;
Morgan Seal 881
Description
1 cylinder seal : hematite ; 23 x 14 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."--Porada, CANES, p. 109-110
Cylinder chipped at top and bottom.
Summary
Worshiper(?) beside vessel above ball staff -- Lion attacking man on one knee before god with lightning fork -- Before god, indefinable design; behind him, fish.
Classification
Department