Details

LOT 0358

Western Asiatic Kassite Cylinder Seal with King's Prayer for Goddess Lamassu

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.

CONDITION