Facebook
sprite-icon-instagram
Twitter
sprite-icon-wechat
Weibo
X
sprite-icon-youtube
sprite-icon-accessible
Group 3
sprite-icon-arrow
sprite-icon-audio-description
sprite-icon-calendar
sprite-icon-camera
UI/Chevron/Large/Black
sprite-icon-chevron
Artboard 1
sprite-icon-copyright
sprite-icon-data
sprite-icon-download
sprite-icon-grid
sprite-icon-image
i
sprite-icon-list
sprite-icon-magazine
sprite-icon-maximise
sprite-icon-museum
sprite-icon-osd-minus
sprite-icon-osd-plus
Group 6
sprite-icon-pin
sprite-icon-plus
sprite-icon-print
Fill 1
sprite-icon-share
sprite-icon-shop
sprite-icon-tag
sprite-icon-tea
sprite-icon-ten-percent-tag
Artboard 1
sprite-icon-wallet
sprite-icon-zoom
Skip to main content
Please enable JavaScript in your web browser to get the best experience.
Menu
Main navigation
Visit
Toggle Visit submenu
Back
to previous menu
—
Visit
—
Visit
—
Family visits
—
Group visits
—
Audio app
—
Out-of-hours tours
—
Tours and talks
—
Object trails
—
Accessibility
—
Food and drink
—
Late opening on Fridays
—
Museum map
Exhibitions and events
Collection
Toggle Collection submenu
Back
to previous menu
—
Collection
—
Collection
—
Collection online
—
Galleries
—
Blog
—
The British Museum podcast
Learn
Toggle Learn submenu
Back
to previous menu
—
Learn
—
Learn
—
Schools
—
Communities
—
Adult learning
—
Young people
Membership
Toggle Membership submenu
Back
to previous menu
—
Membership
—
Membership
—
Members' events
—
Young Friends
—
Existing Members
—
Visiting as a Member
Support us
Toggle Support us submenu
Back
to previous menu
—
Support us
—
Donate
—
Corporate support
—
Become a Patron
—
Supporter case studies
—
Become a Volunteer
—
Existing Patrons
—
Leave a legacy
—
American Friends of the British Museum
Secondary navigation
Shop
Search
Donate
Hide menu
cylinder seal
Object Type
cylinder seal
Museum number
103005
Description
Black limestone cylinder seal; dismounted horseman stands facing left with torso presented frontally. He wears a floppy hood with a neck flap, tied (?) under the chin; he is dressed in a thigh-length, belted tunic with central fastening (?) and trousers. He carries a fringed cloth or saddle-rug (which suggests a horse just off the scene) and uses it as a shield against the attack of a confronting boar which he is ready to spear. The animal has fine bristles along its back and a forked tail raised up; a pear-shaped delineation marks out the shoulder, and parallel lines with three vertical lines between emphasize the muscles of ribs and haunch. The scene is placed on a ground line; inscription; slightly barrel-shaped; may have been reworked from a bead; one chip on the upper edge surface.
Cultures/periods
Achaemenid
(Mixed I, Archaic/Court)
Production place
Made in:
Asia
Materials
limestone
Dimensions
Diameter:
1.10 - 1.30 centimetres
Height:
2.75 centimetres
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments
According to catalogue "the presence of the horse is suggested by the hunter holding a saddle-cloth as a shield against the boar. This an abbreviated version is more common than the scene where the dismounted horseman is actually accompanied by his horse. An agate seal found in Babylon is practically identical in design and is also barrel-shaped. Comparable scenes appear on cylinder seal impressions on tablets from the Murashu archives from Nippur, dated to the reign of Darius II and from the Persepolis Treasury, dated to the time of Xerxes I. Livelier boar hunts include a glazed faience seal from Kish with the hunter in a tree and seals with a background of reeds".
Bibliographic references
Merrillees 2005 / Catalogue of the Western Asiatic seals in the British Museum: Pre-Achaemenid and Achaemenid periods
(11)
Moortgat A 1940 / Voderasiatische Rollsiegel: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Stein-schneidekunst (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin)
(772)
(cf:)
Legrain L 1925 / The Culture of the Babylonians from their Seals in the Collection of the Museum
(819, 987)
(cf:)
Schmidt EF 1957a / Persepolis II: Contents of the Treasury and Other Discoveries
(pl.14:74)
(cf:)
Buchanan B 1966 / Catalogue of the Ancient Near Eastern Seals in the Ashmolean Museum. Cylinder Seals
(689)
(cf:)
Frankfort H 1939 / Cylinder Seals: a documentary essay on the art and religion of the ancient Near East
(pl.XXXVIIf and k)
(cf:)
Boardman J 1970 / Greek Gems and Finger Rings: Early Bronze Age to Late Classical
(pls.885, 926)
(cf:)
Location
Not on display
Condition
Fair; surface worn and shows signs of recutting.
Subjects
mammal
equestrian
arms/armour
Acquisition name
Purchased from:
J J Naaman
Acquisition date
1909
Department
Middle East
BM/Big number
103005
Registration number
1909,0508.5