cylinder seal
- Museum number
- 89338
- Description
-
Black hematite cylinder seal. Three men march towards the right with their legs overlapping; they have short hair, wear short, horizontally-striated kilts and their arms are bent. They approach two male figures who sit facing each other on stools with single horizontal struts, have short hair with double hair-bands, wear flounced robes and raise an alabastron in the hand furthest from the viewer. Between them stands a naked goddess who has an elaborate headdress and is depicted frontally with her hands supporting her breasts, but with her head and feet turned towards the right. A row of five birds with raised wing, turned towards the right and set between two horizontal lines, forms the upper border of the seal, and there is a single line border at the bottom.
- Production date
- 18thC BC-17thC BC
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 8.80 millimetres
-
Height: 17.80 millimetres
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- The edges are badly chipped, perhaps indicating the forcible removal of decorative metal caps.
- Acquisition date
- 1884
- Acquisition notes
- Acquired from W.D. Cutler; said to be from “Cyprus (?)”, but this seems to be a proposed stylistic attribution rather than a provenance
- Department
- Middle East
- BM/Big number
- 89338
- Registration number
- 1884,0630.5