Stamp Seal
![Semi-translucent, yellowish stamp with a rounded top and engraved areas. The seal is accompanied by three gray clay impressions showing (1) a stylized representation of a figure at right, standing before a spade and a stylus, facing an altar with a long-necked, four-legged animal; (2) a stylized dog seated on its hind legs facing right; (3) a tall, stylized structure resembling either an incense burner or lamp.](https://isaw.nyu.edu/exhibitions/ishtar-gate/objects/stamp-seal-spade-stylus/@@images/c410456c-ffce-492e-ac06-411b0addd14b.jpeg)
Stamp seal and modern impression
- Description:
- Stamp seal and modern impression with a worshipper or priest before the divine symbols of Marduk (spade) and Nabu (stylus) on a mušhuššu-dragon altar (on face), a dog and lamp or incense burner (on sides)
- Medium:
- Bluish chalcedony
- Location:
- Probably Mesopotamia, Iraq
- Dimensions:
- H. 2.9 cm; W. 2.13 cm; D. 1.65 cm
- Date:
- Neo-Assyrian or Neo-Babylonian Period, ca. 725–539 BCE
- Inventory Number:
- 41.160.271
- Lender:
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art
- Credit:
- Bequest of W. Gedney Beatty, 1941
Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY