LOT 0187

Sumerian Cream Stone Cylinder Seal with Contest Scene

CIRCA 2500 B.C.

1 1/8 in. (8.83 grams, 28 mm).

Divided into two registers, both showing a contest scene with a horned hero grappling with horned beasts; 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 Cream Stone, 28.5 x 12 mm. The engraved sides of this seal are divided into two registers by a single horizontal line. In both registers there is a contest scene. In the upper a standing hero with double belt around his waist succours a bovine on the right and an upended gpat on the left, both of which are being attacked by a lion. The body of the lion on the right crosses the body of a second bovine. In the lower register a standing nude hero succours two differentiated bovines, one of each side, which are being attacked each by a lion, but in this case each lion's body crosses that of a third and fourth bovine. This is a seal in the Sumerian tradition, c. 2500 B.C., from the Third Phrase [sic] of the Early Dynastic periods, and may come from Sumer itself, north Mesopotamia or south-east Iran. It is in good state of preservation and a nice example of its kind.' [No Reserve]

UK private collection, acquired 1990-1993.

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.