CDLI Seals 019587 (physical) (P540406)

• Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

• Artifact type: Cylinder seal
• Material: Mineral > Hematite
• Measurements (mm): 25.0 high × 14.0 wide
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• Condition Description:
• Join Information:
• Seal no.: S019587
• Seal information:
• This artifact was made in modern times.
• Artifact comments:

  Gordon: There are three groups of upright figures. The left group is a lion biting the upper jaw of a male (bovine ?) quadruped that looks back at his attacker. The middle group consists of a nude, long-haired, long-bearded hero wearing only a belt, who seizes a lion by the neck and a fore-paw. The right pair is a lion attacked in front by Enkidu and behind by Gilgamesh. Both heroes wear triple belts. Enkidu is classically depicted as a bull below the waist and a man above the waist, except for bull's horns and ears. His body is a profile, but his well- bearded face looks to the front. He grasps the lion by the neck and a fore- paw. Gilgamesh, who, like Enkidu, is naked, has a long beard, and grips the lion's tail with a hand and leg. His head would hardly have been drawn thus by a third millennium artist, since Gilgamesh regularly faces front (not in profile as here), and furthermore, his three side curls are misunderstood and placed behind the head. Nor does the hero in the middle group look genuine. I am therefore inclined to consider this seal a partly accurate imitation of an original, of which the theme and date of execution are similar to others.

• Genre(s):
• Language(s):

• primary: Iraq 6 (pp. 3-34), 8, no. 7, pl. 2

  [Gordon1939Iraq6] Gordon, Cyrus H. 1939. “Western Asiatic Seals in the Walters Art Gallery.” Iraq 6: 3–34.

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• Composite No.:
• Museum No.: WAM 42.0788
• Accession No.:

• Provenience:
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• Findspot Comments:

• Period: Early Old Babylonian (ca. 2000-1900 BC)
• Dates Referenced:
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• Date Comments:
• Accounting Period: 0

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This artifact is a physical seal. See below of a list of its impression(s):