The craftsmanship is exceptional, particularly if we consider that seals produced before
about 1740 BCwere made with hand-held tools. Whereas the rare Old Babylonian
contest scenes showed lions or lion-griffins dominating kneeling figures and animals
(a complete reversal in the treatment of the subject on Akkadian seals where the hero
and lion were equally matched), work typical of Sippar craftsmen shows both types
(Figures 7. 8 and 7. 15 ; Collon 1993 ; see Collon 1986 : 87 – 90 , pls XII–XIV for the
subject and especially nos. 121 – 2 and 132 – 4 which were probably made at Sippar
or by Sippar craftsmen).
As Sippar was situated on the Euphrates south of Baghdad and the river provided
a trade route with Syria and Turkey in the north and with southern Babylonia and
the Gulf in the south, its workshops also specialised in unusual subjects for a foreign
clientele, and it is probable that craftsmen from Sippar influenced the development
of high-quality glyptic throughout Syria in the eighteenth century BC(Collon 1982 ).
— Dominique Collon —Figure 7. 14 Lama; warrior king; god with ladder-patterned robe; filling motifs. Haematite.
2. 65 × 1. 4. BM ANE 89072 ( 1867 - 11 - 15 , 5 ) (Collon 1986 , no. 490 ).
Figure 7. 15 Lion-griffins attacking goat; lion attacking one of two nude heroes fighting lion.
Haematite (chipped). 2. 45 × 1. 45. BM ANE 26175 ( 1898 - 2 - 16 , 1229 ) (Collon 1986 , no. 137 ;
Collon 1993 with evidence for probable Sippar provenance).