Neo-Babylonian Cylinder Seal with Contest Scene

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TimeLine Auctions London Mayfair Sale

By TimeLine Auctions Limited

Nov 23, 2018

Set Reminder 2018-11-23 05:00:00 2018-11-23 05:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : TimeLine Auctions London Mayfair Sale https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/timeline-auctions-limited/timeline-auctions-london-mayfair-sale-3572
Auction Venue: The May Fair Hotel London Stratton Street Mayfair London, W1J 8LT Viewing from noon Thursday 22nd Nov. 2018 Champagne Reception: 6pm - 9pm Friday 23rd Nov. 2018 (Day 1) 10am : Lots 1 - 660 TimeLine Auctions Limited enquiries@timelineauctions.com

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• Lot Description
  8th-late 6th century BC. A chalcedony cylinder seal with a winged hero, wearing a tiara and holding a curved sword behind him in his lowered right hand, grasping the wings of a rearing, turning back griffin, a leonine bird-monster with the body, hindlegs and tail of a lion and the wings, head and foreparts of a bird; between them is a rosette-tree, attacked by the monster, with a columnar trunk rising from a plain hill with one inscription line on each side, the streamers of the cobweb-like rosette disc end in thirteen pomegranates; from the two sides of the trunk branch off each three lotus flowers; the garment of the hero and the griffin's upper body are provided with a net pattern; the inscription is written positively on the seal, thus appearing mirrored on the impression: 1 dNabû(muati(= PA)) u?ur(pab) napišt?(zi) 2 bal??a(tin) q?ša(ba)šá 'O god Nabû, protect my life, grant me health!' For similar pictures cf. Collon, D. Catalogue of the Western Asiatic Seals in the British Museum. Cylinder Seals V. Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Periods, London, 2001, pl.XXV-XXVI (hero against a monster) and pl.XIV (stylised tree); for the griffin Black, S. J. and Green, A. Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia, London, 1992, p.99-101; and for the stylised tree ibid., p.170-171; for this inscription s. CAD Q 160a below s.v. qâšu 2. a) 2' and correct accordingly reading and translation in Collon, D. ibid., p.163b sub no.320. 16 grams, 29mm (1 1/4"). From the collection of a Cambridge connoisseur, Cambridgeshire, UK; formed in the early 20th century; accompanied by a museum quality seal impression.

  Condition

  Fine condition.
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