12th century BC. A substantial white jasper or chert cylinder seal, with central image of a sacred tree, represented as a stylised palm tree with cone-shaped fruits, leaves and tendrils; its top is flanked by two rampant animals- a winged ibex on the left and a bull on the right, standing on a baseline; between both are, from top to bottom: a solar disc, a multiple-rayed star and a fish; three recumbent mouflons on either side below, turning their heads backward to right; the image is framed at top and bottom by a row of six deeply cross-hatched triangles, pointing with their tips outwards; these imitate the granulated triangles on gold caps of higher-quality seals; accompanied by a museum-quality impression. See Buchanan, B., Catalogue of Ancient Near Eastern Seals in the Ashmolean Museum, vol. I. Cylinder Seals, Oxford, 1966, no.563, for a comparable example held by The Ashmolean Museum; also in: Orthmann, W., Der Alte Orient. PKG 14, Berlin, 1975, fig.269i, p.349f; for the motif of the stylised tree Black, S.J., Green, A., Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia, London, 1992, p.170b-171a. 51.4 grams, 65mm (2 1/2"). Property of a London gentleman; acquired by his father in the 1970s; thence by descent; this lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no. 10380-168160.