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HOME :
Near Eastern Art :
Sumerian Art : Stamp Seal in the Shape of a Reclining Bull
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Stamp Seal in the Shape of a Reclining Bull - LO.1097
Origin: Central Asia
Circa: 3000
BC
Dimensions:
1" (2.5cm) high
Collection: Near Eastern Art
Medium: White Marble
Additional Information: F
£5,000.00
Location: Great Britain
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| Description |
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The Sumerian civilization was an extremely
advanced and complex society situated in
modern day Iraq. Lasting for some four
thousand
years, the Sumerians were among the first
cultures to develop most of what we now take
for
granted, from complex economies to
advanced
record keeping, literature, international trade
and
recorded mythologies. Thanks to the Sumerian
habit of recording everything on clay tablets
using cuneiform – one of the first complex
writing systems – we can infer a great deal
about
their society. We know that Sumer was
characterized by various city-states, running in
competition with one another for wealth and
conquest, while sharing similar characteristics
and material goods. They used slave labor,
based
around large temples and palaces, and were
keen
to form alliances and thus push out the
boundaries of their nation into Central Asia
and
Turkey. Their trade networks were extensive,
and
colonies of Sumerian peoples have been
identified all across the region. Rule was by
kingship; rulers varied considerable in their
methods although extreme cruelty and martial
law (such as that exercised under Eannatum of
Lagash) was the exception rather than the rule.
Temples were the mainstay of local
economies. It
was here that produce was brought as tax,
legal
proceedings carried out and deals were struck.
Records of this period are almost exclusively
written by scribes who lived within the temple
walls and worked under the auspices of the
administrators, who were themselves under
the
authority of the priests.
Exquisite stamp seal depicting a three-
dimensional buffalo in recumbent posture, with
eyes pierced, the body with a trasversal
perforation for hanging. The back featuring a
drilled incision of two springing animals.
For similar example see: E. Gubel (ed), A
l'ombre
de Babel: L'art du Proche-Orient Ancien dans
les
collections belges, Bruxelles, 1995, p. 41, no.
12.
- (LO.1097)
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