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Art of the First Cities
Seals and Sealing: Mesopotamia
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Cylinder seal with banquet scene (left) and impression (right), ca. 2550–2400 B.C.; Early Dynastic IIIA. Mesopotamia, Ur. Cuneiform inscriptions in Sumerian. Lapis lazuli; H. 4.9 cm (1 7/8 in.); Diam. 2.5 cm (1 in.). PG 800, Puabi's Tomb, U.10939. Trustees of The British Museum, London BM 121544.
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One of the two main themes on Early Dynastic cylinder seals is a banquet scene. It is usually executed in a style more linear and imprecise than the other main theme of animal and human contests. Many examples are made of lapis lazuli. Banquet scenes, which also appear on contemporary stone plaques, are representations of ceremonies, and music appears to have been an integral part of these events. The banquet seals from the Royal Cemetery may have been associated exclusively with women. This seal, together with two others, was found close to the body of queen Puabi. In the top register a woman wears her hair in a bun and faces right. She is seated on a chair and clad in a fringed garment that covers her right arm. She raises a cup in her left hand, helped by one of two female servants standing on either side. Facing the woman is a seated man, also raising a cup but attended by male servants, one of whom lifts a stick, perhaps to strike a bell held in his other hand. The two line inscription reads nin (queen) Pu-abi. In the lower register all the participants are male, with two seated figures attended by four servants, one standing behind a tall table laden with a vessel and a haunch of meat.
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