A HEMATITE CYLINDER SEAL CIRCA 1850-1720 B.C.

拍品描述

A HEMATITE CYLINDER SEAL, MESOPOTAMIA, OLD BABYLONIAN PERIOD, CIRCA 1850-1720 B.C. Of cylindrical form, the polished hematite stone engraved in intaglio with a presentation scene arranged around the circumference. At the centre stands a deity or worshipper in profile, the head shown with a rounded cap or hair mass and a prominent nose, the body clad in a long flounced garment falling in graduated tiers to the ankles. One arm is raised across the chest in a gesture of address, the other lowered to the side. Flanking figures and subsidiary motifs occupy the remaining field, including what appears to be an attendant figure with a spouted vessel or situla at the right, and vegetal or filler elements at the left. The surface retains traces of ochreous incrustation within the intaglio, standing against the dark grey metallic sheen characteristic of well-polished hematite. The composition follows the presentation formula that dominated Old Babylonian glyptic, in which a worshipper is led before, or stands in the presence of, a seated or standing deity. The tiered flounced garment worn by the principal figure identifies them within the divine or high-status register, this costume being reserved in Mesopotamian iconography for gods, goddesses, and rulers approaching them. The vessel held by the flanking figure recalls the libation and purification attributes carried by attendant deities and priestly intercessors in the same period. The scene is not narrative but liturgical, condensing an act of intercession or approach into a repeatable image that would unroll continuously across the wet clay of a tablet, envelope, or door sealing. Hematite emerged as the dominant material for cylinder seals during the early second millennium B.C., displacing the softer stones favoured in the Ur III period. Its density and hardness allowed for exceptionally crisp intaglio cutting and gave the finished seal a dark, mirror-like surface that took a high polish. The stone was worked with copper or bronze drills and abrasive powders, and the material's resistance meant that a well-cut hematite seal retained its legibility through generations of use. The choice of hematite in this period is bound up with the professionalisation of the scribal and administrative classes under the First Dynasty of Babylon and its contemporaries, for whom the seal functioned as both legal signature and personal amulet. The Old Babylonian presentation scene, of which this seal is a representative example, marks the moment at which Mesopotamian glyptic settled into a highly conservative iconographic language that would persist, with local variations, across Babylonia, the Diyala region, and into Syrian and Anatolian workshops. The convention of the flounced deity, the intercessor, and the standardised filler motifs allowed the seal to function as a legible statement of piety and status irrespective of who unrolled it. This example, in its cutting of the central figure and its use of hematite, sits securely within that mainstream tradition. Dimensions: Height: 3cm

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