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Cylinder Seal with King Holding Two Lions
c. 5th century B.C. (reign of Darius)
Kimbell Art Museum
Fort Worth, United States
This seal shows a bearded king holding lions aloft by their hind legs, standing atop a pair of human-headed sphinxes. On either side of this group is a standing archer, holding a bow and arrows in his hands, standing on a winged griffin. The iconography of the king holding an upended lion is a central motif in the royal art of the Achaemenid dynasty that ruled Iran in the 6th-4th centuries B.C.
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Details
- Title: Cylinder Seal with King Holding Two Lions
- Date Created: c. 5th century B.C. (reign of Darius)
- Location: Persia (Iran)
- Physical Dimensions: H. 1 3/16 in. (3 cm); Diam. 5/8 in. (1.6 cm)
- Provenance: Private collection, Syria. Private collection, Lebanon, acquired between 1962 and 1968; (art dealer, New Jersey) by 1981; (Ward & Company Fine Art, Inc., New York), by 2001; purchased by Kimbell Art Foundation, Fort Worth, 2001.
- Rights: Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas
- External Link: www.kimbellart.org
- Medium: Chalcedony
- Kamakura period (1185-1333): Achaemenian period (539–331 B.C.)
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