3rd millennium BC. A limestone cylinder seal with two snakes each intertwined with a second head instead of the tip of the tail, attacking a running onager from above and below, the four heads of the snakes are not typical of vipers, but are similar to those of lionesses; the larger of the two snakes, twisted twice, attacking the quadruped from the left; the smaller, twisted three times, right attacking it from the front, with its upper head crossed over that of the onager; this seal is special, especially because of the lack of symmetry and the liveliness of the presentation, Horror vacui; although snakes also appear often on the seals of the Ancient Iran, the dots in the loops of the snakes point towards an origin of probably Syria.Cf. Kist, J. ANESKC (CHANE 18), 2003, p.142, fig.257 (Classic Syrian cylinder seal with a guilloche with dots in the centre); also Stein, D. Siegelverwendung in Wirtschaft und Verwaltung, in: E. Klengel-Brandt (Hg.), Mit Sieben Siegeln versehen, Mainz, 1997, p.109, fig.113 (Uruk-period, ca. 3000 BC, here grid patterns in the loops); and Amiet, P. MDP 43, 1972, pl.64, fig.488 (from the Ancient Iran, here blossoms in the loops"). 6.05 grams, 21mm (3/4"). Property of a North London gentleman; previously in a London collection since before 1999. Very fine condition.This seal is extremely rare in appearance and motif.