Old Babylonian Red Agate Cylinder Seal with Geometric Design

With geometric design of hatched lozenges and concentric bands; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 16.3 grams, 29 mm



Acquired in the mid 1980-1985. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Drum-shaped with frieze of drilled zoomorphic images to the sidewall; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 4.04 grams, 14.25 mm



From the 'S' collection, acquired 1970-1990s. The collection was seen and studied by W.G. Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology at the University of Birmingham, 1970-1993. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Cylinder with cord and bead handles; 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 in Fawn Stone, Concave, 25 x 12.5 mm. The main figures are three; a nude female frontally shown save for her head, which is sideways; facing her a standing figure in a long fringed robe, with one arm awkwardly placed behind him; on the other side of the nude female a kneeling figure holding up a bull by the hind leg. Above the main scene are two browsing quadrupeds, one clearly a stag. Between the nude female and the figure on the left is a head of a horned animal. A second such animal's head above a sideways browsing stag forms a terminal. The whole design is placed between two lines. The seal is Mitanni, c 1400-1200 B.C., from anywhere between the eastern Mediterranean and Kurdistan. It has a very full design and looks like a "common style", but it is cut on stone, not made of frit, and the design is very deeply cut so that a fine, well-rounded impression is given. Also, being of stone, it is more durable than those of frit. Though there is some wear, the deep outlining means that nothing has been lost as a result.'; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 6.34 grams, 25 mm



UK private collection, acquired 1980-1983. Accompanied by a copy of a scholarly note, typed and signed by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert in July 1991. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.