The king’s workshop

Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati – July 2000, June 2025

Introduction to Royal Seals

Within the corpus of seal impressions excavated in the royal palace most sealings were not inscribed but the inscribed seals and those uninscribed had a number of characteristics in common. Those connected with the queen and king, as well as servants mostly of the queen have innovative motifs connected with their dynastic program; striking is the gesture of the touching of the lap of either the king (K2) or queen (Q2, Q3, Q4, Q5, Q6,Q7 and probably Q8). Another series of motifs connected with them are the series of themes of servants performing activities connected with the household, eg. H1 showing the braiding of the queen’s hair or food preparation, eg. Q1 and the seal of the cook Tuli, H10.

One exceptional motif appears to be an offering; in the K1 seal impression a figure wearing a long garment and an unusual hat is holding in a prominent position what appears to be a large ball of yarn. In connection with this motif we excavated next to the Temple BA, outside the northern wall, three weights used in spinning. Both of these may indicate the importance of cloth production for the Urkesh nobility.

Introduction to King’s seals

The number of seal impressions connected with the king is appreciably smaller than those of either the queen or her courtiers. We have concluded that this is due to the fact that the area of the royal palace we have excavated is connected with the queen and was a working area where sealed containers were opened by her staff thereby breaking the seal impressions that had been used to seal them. The six known seals of the king in the corpus are evidenced by only 12 rollings;one of them, K4, A1q914.8, had two rollings on the same piece. K1 had traces of four rollings; K2 of three rollings. K3, K5 and K6 had traces of only one rolling (UMS 3, pp. 47-49). Therefore the result is that many fewer rollings were found for the king than for the queen’s seals. Because of this we know little about the King’s workshop or workshops.

King’s Iconography

As in the queens seals both are connected with the dynastic program that emphasizes their power and prestige. In the king’s examples a reclining lion is placed under part of his seat, in K2 and K4. This lion has his mouth open in both these seals. In K2 a container is placed before the lion and a standing figure is pouring liquid into it ; both emphasize that the lion is alive, not a sculpture. Additionally in K2 a small figure, the crown prince, is touching the lap of the king. Interestingly a small standing figure is repeated in the seal of a later king, Ishar-kinum, where there are two open mouthed standing lions positioned below the seated king and the small standing figure. In front of these figures is the standing human figure pouring liquid into the same type of receptical.

The figure of the lion is important to Urkesh kings, as we know from Tishatal, a later king of Urkesh. In the time of Tupkish in his seal K2 the lion beneath the throne is shown realistically. In a seal of the crown prince of Tupkish (A7q853.2, the name is unfortunately missing) the standing lion with an open mouth and is also rendered realistically. However in the seal of a later king, Ishar-kinum the lions are depicted as sculptures!

Style of the King’s Seals

The seals of Tupkish are characterized by being finely carved characterized by crisp, fine details. They include depictions of deities known from southern Akkadian iconography,as in K4. They have new settings eg. the figure holding very prominently what we have interpreted as a ball of yarn. Additionally the lion at feet of Tupkish with a small figure, probably the crown prince, giving homage by touching his knees. In K2, Q2,H2 a star is prominently placed near the small figure emphasizing the continuity of the dynasty.

The seal impressions correlated with the composite drawings are as follows:

K1

The iconography of this seal is unusual in that the two extant figures are facing left; since one is holding an offering the figure on what is probably a stool must be facing right. Usually the king or deity is depicted facing left.

The sealings that combine to make the iconography of the original seal are:

A1q1036.10
A5.163
A5.187
A5q951.4

K2

The sealings that combine to make the iconography of the original seal are:

A1.221
A1.455
A1q922.7

K3

Only one sealing is preseved from this seal: A1q922.6

K4

Two rollings on the same sealing

Only one sealing is preseved from this seal: A1q914.8

K5

Part of incription only

Only one sealing is preseved from this seal:A1q981.19

K6

Part of incription only

Only one sealing is preseved from this seal: A5.46