Neo-Assyrian Rock Crystal Cylinder Seal with a Ritual Banquet Scene

Culture: Assyrian

Period: 8th-7th century B.C.

Material: Rock Crystal

Dimensions: 2.9 cm high

Price: Sold

Ref: 6684

Provenance: From the Austrian collection Danho Abdul Massich, acquired in 1978 and since then in Austria.

Condition: A stable crack on the base, otherwise intact and of excellent quality.

Description: Exceedingly in detail and finely worked out Neo-Assyrian rock crystal cylinder seal with a ritual banquet scene and numerous deity symbols. In the centre stands a cross-legged table where a lamb- or beef leg already lies as a sacrificial meat. Above the table hovers a deity in a winged disk, who can be identified as sun god Shamash. In front of the table stands a woman, her arms raised in a praying gesture. She wears a long dress with a fine hem. Her hair is bound into a bun in the back. Opposite her sits a man of high ranking on a state throne abundantly decorated with spheres. One of his arms is raised to the sacrificial meal, in the other one he holds a ritual pastry in form of spheres. He wears a cylindrical headdress, which identifies him as a ruler or priest. Behind his state throne is an impressive number of deity symbols: First, the spade of Babylon's patron god Marduk, to the right of it the stylus of his son Nabu, god of literacy. They are surmounted by the Pleiades of Sebittu, and above them hover the star of Ishtar and the crescent moon of god Sin. A seal of high quality with exceptionally abundant symbolism. See for a similar state throne the seal in the Ashmolean Museum Oxford with the accession number AN1922.61. And for similar banquet scenes the examples in the Metropolitan Museum with the object number 1999.325.70, as well as in the British Museum with the registration number 1827,0210.3.