NEO-ASSYRIAN BLACK STONE CYLINDER SEAL Ca. 8th century BC. A black stone cylinder seal with Ishtar as a prominent central figure in a starry nimbus. Worshipers are depicted alongside Pleiades, eight-pointed stars, lunar crescents, the emblem of Marduk (spade) and a gazelle in the exergue. Studied by PD Dr. habil. Pieter Gert van der Veen, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz. Size: 42mm x 17mm; Weight: 27.2g. Provenance: Private London collection of an Ancient Art dealer; Formerly in a central London family collections 1990s; Suggested to be examined by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert FBA (1926-2011), historian, archaeologist, and specialist in Assyriology and Near Eastern archaeology, in the late 1980s and early 1990s.; ex. 1970s/early80s UK art market.