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Back to previous pageLOT 0358
Sold for (Inc. bp): £9,672
MIDDLE BABYLONIAN PERIOD, 15TH CENTURY BC
1 1/2" (17 grams, 38mm).
A large turquoise-coloured amazonite cylinder seal depicting a king with mace facing a worshipper (the unnamed owner of the seal), and six columns of cuneiform text, mainly Sumerian logograms: 1. GAR NA, KIŠIB.BÉ 2. ina INIM DINGIR.BI 3. ina É.GAL DU.DU 4. MU.BÉ HÉ.SIG 5. GÌR.BI HÉ.SUR 6. ME (-) dLAMMA HÉ.TUK 'Whoever uses this seal at the command of his god he will walk (often) in the palace, may his name be respected, his way (of life) be in order, may he have the divine luminosity (protection) of the goddess Lamassu'.
PROVENANCE:
Property of a North London lady; gifted from her father's collection; formerly with a Mayfair gallery, London, UK; previously acquired in the 1980s.
LITERATURE:
Cf. D. Collon, Catalogue of the Western Asiatic Seals in the British Museum. Cylinder Seal III. Isin~Larsa and Old Babylonian Periods, London, 1986, nos.145-231.
FOOTNOTES:
The inscription comprises a short prayer in Akkadian on behalf of the unnamed owner.
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