A bluish-grey chalcedony stamp seal with a cultic scene.

Assyro-Babylonian, 8th - 7th century B.C.

2.8 x 2.2 x 1.4cm

Of octogonal pyramid form. The matrix carved with a standing figure before a lotus flower. The figure, bearded and wearing a diadem, raises his hands in a gesture of prayer and invocation beneath a winged sun (a solar symbol associated with divinity, royalty, and power in the Ancient Near East).

Many Neo-Babylonian seal designs show a standing or kneeling worshipper with raised hands before divine symbols or an altar. In some cases the figure is beardless and clearly a priest; in others, as here, the figure may represent a priest or king. Although often very finely carved, the seals are notable for the simplicity of their compositions and, unusually for ancient Near Eastern seals, their inclusion of large areas of blank, uncarved space.

The last images are similar examples in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Accession Numbers; 86.11.35, 41.160.234 and 74.51.4422.