Lot Essay
Acquired by the present owner's uncle in the 1940s-1950s.
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8TH CENTURY B.C.
Details
A NEO-ASSYRIAN QUARTZ CYLINDER SEAL
8TH CENTURY B.C.
In drilled style, with a central spade of Marduk on a pedestal, a crescent above, on one side the armed goddess Ishtar holding an astral ring approached by a worshipper, a star between them, the other side with the storm god Adad holding a lightning fork with suppliant worshipper, the seven Pleiades between them, a bucranium and recumbent ibex in the field, 1.1/8 in. (2.7 cm.) high; a Neo-Assyrian chalcedony cylinder seal with a recumbent 'mushushu' in front of a central spade of Marduk flanked by two further standards, a worshipper stands before them, the Pleiades, a star, a rhomb (symbol of fertility) and a fish in the field, 8th-7th Century B.C., 1.1/8 in. (2.8 cm.) high; a Neo-Babylonian chalcedony cylinder seal with two stylized winged creatures (griffins?), 8th-7th Century B.C., 1 in. (2.5 cm.) high; a Syrian haematite cylinder seal showing the smiting storm god Adad wearing a long curl down his back, horned headdress and kilt, brandishing a mace, axe and flail and holding the leash of his bull, flanked by the 'Syrian' goddess and a worshipper, 18th Century B.C., ¾ in. (2 cm.) high; a Sumerian greenish-grey stone cylinder seal with hatched lozenge decoration, early 3rd millennium B.C., 1 in. (2.6 cm.) high; and another quartz cylinder seal with supplicants before a deity, .7/8 in. (2.2 cm.) high (6)
8TH CENTURY B.C.
In drilled style, with a central spade of Marduk on a pedestal, a crescent above, on one side the armed goddess Ishtar holding an astral ring approached by a worshipper, a star between them, the other side with the storm god Adad holding a lightning fork with suppliant worshipper, the seven Pleiades between them, a bucranium and recumbent ibex in the field, 1.1/8 in. (2.7 cm.) high; a Neo-Assyrian chalcedony cylinder seal with a recumbent 'mushushu' in front of a central spade of Marduk flanked by two further standards, a worshipper stands before them, the Pleiades, a star, a rhomb (symbol of fertility) and a fish in the field, 8th-7th Century B.C., 1.1/8 in. (2.8 cm.) high; a Neo-Babylonian chalcedony cylinder seal with two stylized winged creatures (griffins?), 8th-7th Century B.C., 1 in. (2.5 cm.) high; a Syrian haematite cylinder seal showing the smiting storm god Adad wearing a long curl down his back, horned headdress and kilt, brandishing a mace, axe and flail and holding the leash of his bull, flanked by the 'Syrian' goddess and a worshipper, 18th Century B.C., ¾ in. (2 cm.) high; a Sumerian greenish-grey stone cylinder seal with hatched lozenge decoration, early 3rd millennium B.C., 1 in. (2.6 cm.) high; and another quartz cylinder seal with supplicants before a deity, .7/8 in. (2.2 cm.) high (6)