Details

LOT 0245

Central Asian Chert Cylinder Seal with Hero and Monster

CIRCA 11TH-8TH CENTURY B.C.

1 in. (2 5/8 in.) (11.3 grams, 24.2 mm (65 grams total, 68 mm including stand)).

With triumphant heroes, accompanied by a museum-quality impression and typed and signed scholarly note issued by W.G. Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology at the University of Birmingham, 1970-1993, which states: 'Cylinder Seal of White Stone 24 x 17 mm. The design shows the same scene twice: a standing hero with big long beard and wearing a long robe to the ankles is gripping one front paw of a rearing monster in front of him as he holds up the other hand. The monster has a bull's body with wings and a bird's head with projecting horns or ears. This is a rare type of seal coming from west central Asia. A date c. 1100-800 BC is the most likely. The seal is in good condition.' [No Reserve]

Provenance

Ex Signo collection, the property of a West London businessman, formed in the late 1980s-early 1990s; item number T-927.
Academically researched and catalogued by the late Professor Lambert in the early 1990s; accompanied by an original typed and signed scholarly note by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert.