LOT 0181

Jemdet Nasr Cylinder Seal with Horned Quadrupeds

CIRCA 3000 B.C.

1 3/8 in. (63.5 grams, 36 mm).

With three horned quadrupeds; 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 Alabaster, 27 x 16 mm. The design consists of three prancing horned quadrupeds. All are cut largely with the drill, save for some hand work on the bodies, necks, heads and tails. Above each animal's back is a device, apparently a symbol. [...] The animals were from temple herds, and the prized possessions of the communities, since sheep and goats were the normal domestic animals of the time.' [No Reserve]

with Bonhams, Fine Antiquities 20th May, 1992, no.68.

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

Seals were the working signatures of the ancient Near East. Pressed or rolled into wet clay, they secured jars, bags, doors and tablets, and left a distinct impression that identified the owner, authorised a transaction, and showed whether a container had been opened. Stamp seals (pressed once to leave a single emblem) appear from the 7th–4th millennia BC and continue throughout later periods; cylinder seals (rolled to create a repeating frieze) developed in Mesopotamia in the late 4th millennium BC and are used into the 1st millennium BC. Beyond administration, seals were miniature artworks and amulets. Their images—gods and worshippers, royal hunts, banquets, heroes and mythic beasts—broadcast rank, piety and profession, and were believed to protect the owner. Materials range from soft stones to hard chalcedonies, haematite and lapis, worked with drills and abrasives to achieve crisp intaglio cutting. Many were worn on cords or rings and followed their owners through life, sometimes into the grave. Seals matter because they underpin the earliest systems of record-keeping and trade. Impressions on tablets and bullae are primary documents for ancient law, economy and religion; the seals themselves preserve that imagery in the round. For collectors, well-cut examples with sharp impressions, good polish and honest ancient wear are especially desirable, and pieces with early collection histories are keenly sought.