Цилиндрическая печать из черно-белого агата. Вавилон. 650-550 г. д. н. э. Прото Ахемениды. Высота 23мм. Очень редкая и интересная. Near Eastern Black and White Marble Cylinder Seal Late Neo-Babylonian-Proto Achaemenid, 650-550 BC. An altar with a domed top, flanked on either side by winged recumbent sphinx facing inwards. Above, a winged solar disk. cf: BMC VI, 84 and Pierpont Morgan, pl. CXXVI, 841 (stamp seal), both Achaemenid variations on the subject. This seal, though very worn, is a very interesting and quiet rare example for the period. While animals flanking trees of life or altars are in themselves more common place than not, the lack of examples in at least standard references shows the importance of this variation on the standing sphinx. 23 mm.