Seal Impression

PBS XIV: The portrait of Ibi-Sin the last king of the Third Ur Dynasty. The scene has only two figures without any divine attendant or accessories. The seated king holds in his extended hand a small two handled vase, a symbol of prayers and perfumes or precious offerings. He has a turban, with locks of hair on the forehead and the neck, no beard, large set eyes, high cheek bones, a curved nose, thin lips and a firm and round chin, of the Sumerian type of Gudea. He wears a necklace and bracelets and a flounced robe covering one shoulder. His seat is covered with three rows of flounced material, with a cross bar between the legs, and rests on a dais.

A bareheaded worshiper, shaven and shorn and wearing a fringed shawl, stands in front with clasped hands. He is probably the owner of the seal, the high priest of Enlil at Nippur, to whom the seal was given by Ibi-Sin.

“Ibi-sin//the mighty king//the king of Ur//the king of the four regions of the world//to Sag-Nannarzu//priest of Enlil//his servant//has given as a present”

The seal impressions are on a clay bulla with marks of strings on the back. The sealing secured the binding of a packet. The name of the addressee in cuneiform characters has been added with the stylus:

“Ur-Shulpae, banker//son of Erindan”

Clay sealing, Nippur, 1894. W. side of Statt-en-Nil. See CDLI for transliteration info and line art (hand drawing of inscription).

Exhibited in the Middle East Galleries as number B12570.