Sealing

Iraq's Ancient Past

Iraq
Ur

Near Eastern

Terracotta

CBS Register: fragment of clay jar stopper with seal impressions. copulatio a posteriori (?) traces of strings inside. UE III: marital scene. A woman is bending over two pots which she apparently tries to lift from the ground. A second woman holds her heads down by her tresses while an ithyphallic male seizes the first woman from behind by the shoulders. Both women wear long hair and a woollen skirt. The male is nude. His elongated head has a striking animal profile. Beard and hair are uncertain. A child seated on a low stool behind him holds up a round object, cup or bread. There is a second marital couple above and many smaller figures in the field: a scorpion, a spouted jar, round pieces of bread, a crescent, and again the curious checker-board of nine squares inscribed in a circle, No. 291. Eight-petalled rosette on the butt-end of they cylinder, d. 20 mm.

Joint British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq