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Lot 62
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Mesopotamian Stone Stamp Seal Bead w/ Deity & Worshiper
Mesopotamian Stone Stamp Seal Bead w/ Deity & Worshiper
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Description:

Ancient Near East, Mesopotamia, Babylon, Old Babylonian Period, ca. 1800 to 1600 BCE. A quartzite cylinder seal bead, etched with several figures. This seal was examined and catalogued by Professor Wilfred Lambert. Included is a typed note: "This seal shows three standing figures, all facing right. In front is a deity in hat, short robe, and holding a shepherd's crook in one hand, and a weapon over the other shoulder. Behind him is a goddess in a long, flounced robe, raising one hand and gripping the wrist of a worshipper in a long fringed robe behind. There is a symbol on a pole with support between the first two figures in the row, and another symbol between the last two. A cuneiform inscription in a panel reads: dutu, da-a Shamash, Aya. They are the sun-god and his spouse. This is an unusual Old Babylonian seal from Mesopotamia, c. 1800-1600 B.C. It is in good condition." the note is then signed in ink "W.G. Lambert" Size: 0.73" L x 0.37" W (1.9 cm x 0.9 cm)

Wilfred George Lambert (1926 - 2011) Fellow of the British Academy, was a renowned historian and archaeologist specializing in Assyriology and Near Eastern Archaeology. Lambert's expertise in Mesopotamian culture was built through his extensive academic career, during which he taught and researched at the University of Birmingham for thirty years. He was known for his work deciphering cuneiform tablets at the British Museum. Lambert contributed significantly to the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary and made important discoveries related to the Gilgamesh text. His identification of pieces from a cuneiform tablet inscribed with the same text as the Cyrus Cylinder further solidified his reputation as an expert in Mesopotamian culture.

Provenance: private London, UK collection; private old London collection formed in the 1990s; ex-1990s collection studied and catalogued by Professor W.G. Lambert in the early 1990s.

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#187435

  • Condition: Some surface wear as expected with age and use, but otherwise intact. Softening to finer details and light mineral deposits.

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