CIRCA 9TH-8TH CENTURY B.C.

Each of the two slightly-tapering fragments is divided into registers, with embossed and incised scenes alternating with empty zones framed within decorative borders.  On the upper register of the larger fragment is a god emerging from a winged disk, perhaps the sun god Shamash, with a kneeling adorant below on either side.  In the lower register stands a winged, bearded god in a kilt, holding the hind leg of a lion in each hand.  In the preserved register of the smaller fragment is a bearded god in a kilt, holding a scimitar in his left hand, and gesturing with his raised right hand towards a spread-winged ostrich. For a closely related quiver cover now in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, with a discussion about other similar examples, see no. 138 in O.W. Muscarella,
Ancient Art, The Norbert Schimmel Collection.