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View: Seal and cast
Stamp-cylinder seal ("the Tyszkiewicz seal")
Near Eastern, Anatolian, Hittite
Hittite
1650–1200 B.C.
Medium/Technique
Hematite handle on cylinder of intaglio gem
Dimensions
Overall: 5.8 x 2.2 cm (2 5/16 x 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
Henry Lillie Pierce Fund
Accession Number98.706
CollectionsAncient Egypt, Nubia and the Near East
ClassificationsSeals
DescriptionMythological scenes between bands of spiral ornament. An enthroned god sits amidst various cult objects before a mountain in which a human figure is buried under the god's throne, perhaps a representation of the Underworld. Five deities approach him, one with two faces. On the right another god slays a fallen enemy, while two others burn the two-faced god on a flaming pyre. Underneath the pyre is again a buried body.
ProvenanceSaid to have been found on Cyprus [see note]. 1897, Micheł Tyszkiewicz (b. 1828 - d. 1897), Rome; June 8-10, 1898, posthumous Tyszkiewicz sale, Hotel des Commissaires-Priseurs, Paris, lot 241, sold to Edward Perry Warren (b. 1860 -d. 1928), Rome and London; 1898; sold by Edward Perry Warren to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 20, 1898)
NOTE: According to the Tyszkiewicz auction catalogue.
NOTE: According to the Tyszkiewicz auction catalogue.