cylinder seal

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Object Type
Museum number: 89819
Description: Streaked pink and white chalcedony cylinder seal; the main scene shows a half naked female attendant or goddess, with a bell-shaped object in her hand and wearing an open skirt, fanning a seated god or king (with sword in right hand?) who drinks through a tube from a pot on a stand; there are also two smaller scenes; above, a kneeling archer shoots a reclining gazelle; below, a reclining goat attacked by a griffin; appears to have been damaged by heat; fractured.
Cultures/periods
Production date: 1450BC-1300BC
Findspot: Excavated/Findspot: Khorsabad (near)
Materials
Dimensions: Diameter: 0.375 inches; Height: 0.25 inches
Bibliographic references: Jeremias A 1913 / Handbuch der altororientalischen Geisteskultur (259a); Smith S 1928a / Early History of Assyria (pl.XXd) (? [Syro-Hittite]); Lajard F 1847 / Introduction a l'etude du culte public et des mysteres de Mithra en Orient et en Occident (pl.LIV,A.12); Beek M A 1962 / Atlas of Mesopotamia (p.119); Frankfort H 1939 / Cylinder Seals: a documentary essay on the art and religion of the ancient Near East (p.XXXIX, pl.XLIII.l); Moscati S 1957 / Ancient Semitic Civilisations (pl.7); Wiseman 1959 / Cylinder Seals of Western Asia (pl.51)
Location: Not on display
Condition: Fair / poor; appears to have been damaged by heat; fractured.
Subjects: archer; mammal; griffin; deity; vessel; arms/armour; attendant
Acquisition name
Acquisition date: 1845
Department: Middle East
BM/Big number: 89819
Registration number: 1845,0125.1

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