371, Lot: 1207. Estimate $750. Sold for $2100. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Black serpentine cylinder seal. Sumerian, Early Dynastic IIIb/Pre-Sardonic Period, Transitional Style, circa 2350-2300 BC. Contest frieze with a lion on hind legs, forepaws extended to a bearded man, facing left, his arms extended. Behind, two ibexes on hind legs, that on the right with a sheep on hind. Height: 33mm. A few minor chips. Cf. Moortgat 110-116 for similar.

From the J. S. Wagner Collection.

Moortgat suggests that his group of similar seals are from Ur I.