Details

LOT 0216

Kassite Cylinder Seal with Standing God and Sumerian Prayer to Adad, the God of Storm

MESOPOTAMIA, KASSITE PERIOD, BABYLONIA, CIRCA 1300-1100 B.C.

1 5/8 in. (18.89 grams, 41 mm).

Cylinder seal, perforated longitudinally for suspension, with inscription; accompanied by 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 white stone with Brown Bands 42 x 16 mm. The art-work shows a single standing figure. The head is perhaps covered with a simple cap and the hair is gathered in a bun at the nape of the neck. There is a big beard. The god or man is wearing a robe wrapped over one arm and then falling from the waist to the feet, but open at the front so that one leg is exposed. One hand is held at the waist, the other hangs down. The remainder of the engraved surface is filled with an eight-line inscription in Middle Babylonian cuneiform. The language, however, is Sumerian and a very difficult form of the language, since it was no longer spoken and the scribes thought in Babylonian, but then expressed themselves in a strange form of Sumerian. Thus there is considerable difficulty in being sure how to translate, and the following is given with reserves:
Diskur bára ul pes / háúl-hl gur(4) gur(4) za-lu / zi-bi igi-bar sag ní-za / lum-bi tuku-bi silim-NI / ki-bi níg-si-sá.gar-re / hé-túm-túm-mu-bi / dsîn-ra-im-zeri / dumu be-lí-tim-dmes'
“Adad, lofty lord, who rejoices the heart, who strengthens living creatures, arise, look upon the servant who reverences you, grant him his dwelling, ma[l]ke it prosper, establish justice at his place, and lead him — namely sîn-ra' im-zeri, son of … -Marduk.”
This is a Cassite period seal, from Babylonia, c.1300-1100 B.C. Such seals are comparatively rare, and this one is a large, fine specimen with long inscription and in very good state of preservation.'; supplied with a museum-quality impression.

Provenance

Examined by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert FBA (1926-2011), historian, archaeologist, and specialist in Assyriology and Near Eastern archaeology, in December 1994.
Private collection, London, UK.

Accompanied by a copy of a scholarly report and translation, typed and signed by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13264-253487.

Literature

Cf. for a similar seal of the same age and culture, with a prayer to Addad, Lassen, W. A., Jiménez, E., 'NBC 3171: A recarved Old Babylonian-Kassite seal' in Ash-sharq Volume 6 (2022), pp.58–63, fig.1.

Footnotes

The prayer celebrates Adad as the thunder god. It is written in typically learned Sumerian, translated almost morpheme by morpheme from Akkadian.