An unusual little text of Sennacherib (Sm 1893), evidently a draft, seems to concern the making of a royal seal. That it is a draft and not a formal inscription is suggested by both the content of the text and its inelegant physical appearance — the tablet is roughly formed and is inscribed in a somewhat untidy hand in Neo-Assyrian script. Preliminary drafts of formal texts are not uncommon, nor are later copies, and these may be accompanied by a scribal note, often at the end of the text, indicating their purpose (see, for example, the comments in George, Iraq 48 [1986], p. 138, and the texts there listed). Our text is unique, however, in that it appears to contain directions to inscribe a text, followed by first and second drafts of that text.

The text has been labelled Sides 1 and 2, based upon the order in which it appears to have been written. The inscription begins with what seem to be instructions to engrave a text upon a stone, possibly a seal (Side 1: 1–2). No verb is preserved, but note that Side 1: 1 says ina UGU “[Write] upon (it) …” rather than Ša ina UGU “that which (is inscribed) upon (it)”, indicating that it is a draft, not a copy. Compare, for example, ina UGU NA4.KIŠIB SAR-ár “you write (it) upon a seal” (4R2 56 i: 10; cf. CAD K, p. 545a) versus šá ina UGU NA4.KIŠIB “that which (is inscribed) upon a seal” (Grayson, RIMA 1, A.0.78.28 rev. 13; cf. CAD K, p. 544b). What follows these instructions appears to be a draft of the text to be engraved. The latter opens with a label identifying it as Sennacherib's property, goes on to describe how he brought the stone from a city whose name is broken, and closes with a curse. This draft text takes up the remainder of Side 1 and is duplicated with some variations, presumably corrections, on Side 2. A line ruling at the bottom of Side 2 marks the end of the text.