The stamp seal under consideration comes from Professor M. E. L. Mallowan's excavations at Brak. It was found in the debris on the Agade floor of Court 3 in the Palace of Naram Sin, and dated to that King's time. The excavator has listed it with the important objects which deserve special attention.
This strange seal (Pl. XIII. 1) deserves indeed a study of its subject, its style and especially the idea underlying its composition. The scene depicted on the seal is not unusual as far as subject is concerned, quite singular, however, in its composition. Fortunately, the interpretation of this complicated composition is self-evident. Not only a single “phase in a cow's career” to quote Sir Arthur Evans, is recorded in this idyllic scene, but three of them, reflecting the cow's whole career. The three drawings of Fig. 1 are the result of dismembering the complicated picture into three distincdy different postures of the cow: (a) Grazing, with her head bent down; (b) giving birth to a calf; (c) suckling and licking her youngster. It is clear that not three animals are depicted, but only one single cow at three successive stages in time. This summary expression of a story which comprises a series of consecutive movements is indeed ingenious. It becomes a photographic story rather than a mere picture.