Details

LOT 0196

Akkadian Green Jasper Cylinder Seal with Seated Figures

CIRCA 2300-2200 B.C.

7/8 in. (6.31 grams, 23 mm).

Showing a divine drinking scene; accompanied by a museum quality impression and a copy of an old scholarly note, typed and signed by W.G. Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology, University of Birmingham, 1970-1993, which states: 'Cylinder Seal of Green Jasper, 23 x 13 mm. Two seated figures face each other. On the right is a male, wearing a flat cap on his head, and a long robe to the feet with a deep fringe at the bottom. He is holding up a flat cup. The figure on the left is female, bare-headed, but wearing a similar long garment with fringe at the bottom, alos a fringe where the fabric overlaps from the waist down. Both figures hold up the same type of cup. Between them stands a servant, in a similar long robe and with bare head, holding a mace at the waist. In the sky there is a star and lunar crescent. A tall slender tree serves as a terminal. This is a Akkadian seal, c. 2300-2200 B.C., from Mesopotamia or a neighbouring region. In view of the flat cap on the male the figures are no doubt divine, and this is then a divine drinking scene. This seal is in excellent state of preservation.'

Provenance

From the private collection of a North American lady, formed 1970s-early 1990s, with collection reference no.P18.

Accompanied by a copy of a scholarly note, typed and signed by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert in August 1992 and an old photograph.