Western Asiatic Cylinder Seal Collection

Western Asiatic Cylinder Seal Collection
3rd millennium BC and later
A mixed group of haematite, calcite and other cylinder seals with figural and geometric designs including Early Dynastic III cylinder seal with contest scene (2600-2340 BC); on the right a lion attacking two caprides held by a hero, facing right; before the lion's leg two dots; on the left a hero, facing left, also holding two animals; and a Middle-Syrian cylinder seal with hunting scene, crude style (1450-1350 BC); two wild goats on long, thin legs face each other; between them a dot, above them a lying scorpion, whose curved spine encloses another dot (not sun with upside down crescent moon!); left of it two facing right men, the right one, thought behind the goat, is shown only with the upper body; the man standing behind him holds a window ax with an oversized shaft with his right hand; between them an h-shaped object (symbol?) on a four-legged pedestal; maybe from Ugarit. 21 grams total, 15-26mm (1/2 - 1"). Fine condition. [4]
Provenance
Property of a London gentleman; previously acquired on the UK art market, 1990s.
Literature
For the last described seal: cf. Kühne,H. Das Rollsiegel in Syrien. Zur Steinschneidekunst in Syrien zwischen 3300 und 330 vor Christus, Tübingen, 1980, p.116f., fig.64; and Amiet, P. MDP 43, 1972, pl.192, fig.2267.