A SILVER NEO BABYLONIAN CYLINDER SEAL MOUNTED ON A RING, MESOPOTAMIA, CIRCA 7TH-6TH CENTURY B.C.

拍品描述

A NEO-BABYLONIAN SILVER CYLINDER SEAL MOUNTED ON A RING, MESOPOTAMIA, CIRCA 7TH-6TH CENTURY B.C. The seal comprises a horizontally-mounted cylinder of silver held between the two terminals of an arched silver mount, the cylinder pierced longitudinally and set on a pin that permits it to rotate freely for rolling out an impression. The arched hoop rises from the two coiled shoulders, each formed of tightly wound silver wire built up in ribbed collars flanking the cylinder, and terminates at the apex in a ribbed rectangular suspension loop of four grooved bands, allowing the piece to be worn on a cord at the neck or waist. The surfaces retain a soft grey patina with warm brassy tonalities where the metal has been polished by handling. The engraved field of the cylinder shows a cultic scene rendered in the linear, drilled manner characteristic of the later Mesopotamian seal-cutters. A standing figure faces a group of divine symbols arranged upon what reads as an altar or platform, with further motifs cut in short strokes across the ground. The design is executed with the sparse, emblematic vocabulary typical of Neo-Babylonian glyptic, in which the worshipper approaches the emblems of the gods rather than the anthropomorphic deities themselves. Without a clean modern impression a firmer reading of the individual symbols cannot be given from the photograph alone. Cylinder seals were the principal instruments of authentication and administration in Mesopotamia for more than three millennia, rolled across damp clay tablets, tags, and sealings to close jars, doors, and documents. By the Neo-Babylonian period the older tradition of finely modelled figural cutting had given way to a more abbreviated style dominated by devotional scenes, in which the worshipper stands before the symbols of Marduk, Nabu, Sin, and Ishtar. The choice of silver for the seal itself is unusual and marks the object out from the great majority of Neo-Babylonian seals, which are cut in chalcedony, agate, or other hardstones. Silver carried both economic value and a specific association with the moon-god Sin, whose emblem, the crescent, is among the commonest devices on seals of this period. The mount is as significant as the seal it holds. Cylinder seals in the first millennium B.C. were routinely fitted with metal caps, pins, and suspension loops so that they could be worn as personal ornaments and drawn out when needed to seal a document. The present mount, with its coiled wire shoulders and grooved suspension bar, is a fully preserved example of this practice, converting the seal into a piece of personal jewellery that advertised the owner's administrative or priestly standing. This object exemplifies the late phase of the Mesopotamian cylinder-seal tradition, in which the seal has become as much an ornament of status as an instrument of authentication. The combination of a silver cylinder engraved with a devotional scene and a silver hoop mount preserved intact is uncommon, and situates the piece within the small group of Neo-Babylonian seals that survive still furnished with their original wearable settings. Dimensions: Length of seal: 1.8 cm

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