ClassificationsAncient Near Eastern Art

Cylinder Seal with Water-God Enki, Attendant Usmu, and Birdman Anzu

AAT Object Form/FunctionCylinder Seal

Place CreatedAsia

CultureAkkadian

PeriodAkkadian Dynasty

Date2350-2150 BCE

MediumBasalt

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan P. Rosen

Dimensions1 1/2 x 1 1/8 x 3 9/16 in. (3.8 x 2.9 x 9.1 cm)

Object number1985.022.002

Label TextThis cylinder seal is made of stone and has a hole running through it so it can be strung on a cord or metal wire. Cylinder seals were used for a number of purposes in the ancient Near East - they were used to seal documents, jars or baskets of goods, or to identify the owner of a vessel or other objects. However the use of seals such as this one, from the Akkadian period, is a bit harder to state with complete certainty as the Akkadian capital has not been found and therefore the evidence for the use of these seals comes from outlying areas. The Akkadian Period is a particularly interesting period in the history of cylinder seals as deities, myths, and religious rituals are more frequently represented than ever before.
This seal is particularly special as it represents an identifiable point in a known narrative. The main seated figure represented on the seal is Enki, the water god. Enki can be identified by the lines that spring from his shoulders signifying water; the identification is further reinforced by the fish that swim in the water. Before Enki stands Usmu, his two-faced attendant, and the bird-man Anzu who is brought before Enki to receive his punishment after stealing the Tablets of Destiny from the water god. Behind Anzu stands another deity who restrains him as he stands before Enki.
Akkadian seals were often prized in later times for their beauty and would have been included in treasuries and sent as gifts to foreign rulers. In one incidence, a Akkadian lapis lazuli seal was mounted in a golden bracelet and buried with a 22nd Dynasty Egyptian king, Osorkon I.
Exhibition HistorySelected Acquisitions: Asia to America, Emory University Museum of Art and Archaeology, May 8 - August 8, 1987
MCCM Permanent Collection Galleries, May 11, 1993 - Spring 2001
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, September 2001 - 2012
Michael C. Carlos Museum Morgens West Foundation Galleries of Ancient Near Eastern Art, November 10, 2018 - Present
Published ReferencesMichael C. Carlos Museum Handbook (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 1996), 34.

ProvenanceSaid to be ex Marcopoli Collection, Aleppo, Syria, assembled late 19th Century. Thence by descent. With Jonathan Rosen [Atlantis Antiquities, Ltd.], New York, New York, purchased in Zurich, Switzerland, May 1982.

Status

On view

Collections