Ancient Near East, the Levant, Assyria, ca. 1500 BCE. A trio of hand-carved stone seals including 2 stamps and 1 cylindrical roller seal. One stamp seal of orange color features a pair of winged scarabs flanking a quintet of petite rectangular carvings, perhaps naiskoi. The larger, red-hued seal features a scorpion on one side and a winged sun disc on the other, perhaps referencing the Shahbaz of the early Zoroastrian religion. The roller seal exhibits a sizable ibex, a bird, and a human working with an architectural tool, perhaps a plumb bob. Custom putty rollout for cylindrical seal included. Size of largest (red stone): 0.8" L x 0.625" W x 0.3" H (2 cm x 1.6 cm x 0.8 cm)

Cylinder seals played a major role in the daily life of the Mesopotamians. Known as kishib in Sumerian and kunukku in Akkadian, royals, government officials, scribes, and slaves used them to transact business and send correspondence. They were worn around the neck or wrist and served as a signature and a guarantee, rolled into the moist clay of accounting and governance documents. They also link our modern world to the past, as thousands of years ago, people were concerned with security and authenticity of the documents that they used to conduct business, just as we are today. Cylinder seals were a technological solution to a pressing problem, and their scenes are often complex to prevent forgery and identity individuals.

Provenance: East Coast collection, New York Gallery, New York City, New York, USA, acquired before 2010

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#181788

Each with light earthen deposits and minor softening to finer details commensurate with age, otherwise intact and excellent. Great preservation to overall forms and stone colors.