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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1986.555
Title
Scaraboid Stamp Seal: Galloping Quadruped
Classification
Seals
Work Type
seal
Date
6th-4th century BCE
Period
Archaic period to Classical
Culture
Cypriot
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/289136

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Clear gray chalcedony
Technique
Intaglio
Dimensions
1.4 x 1.8 x 0.7 cm (9/16 x 11/16 x 1/4 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Damon Mezzacappa, gift; to the Sackler Museum, 1986.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Damon Mezzacappa
Accession Year
1986
Object Number
1986.555
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
This scaraboid stamp seal features an image of an unidentifiable animal. Its body is crescent shaped, and this appears to include an upraised head and extended tail. All of its four legs are bent, suggesting a gallop. Its head is long and narrow, and droops at the end. Two protrusions rise from the top of it; they may be ears or horns. A linear device with multiple irregular protrusions is in the field above the animal; it may represent a fish.

The mode of carving makes it difficult to attribute this seal to any specific period or location. The linear and angular style bears some resemblance to some of Cypro-Archaic period scaraboid seals excavated on Cyprus (1). A similar fish (if it is indeed a fish) appears on an unprovenanced stamp seal in St. Petersburg, attributed on stylistic grounds to the late fourth century BCE (2).

NOTES

1. A. T. Reyes, The Stamp-Seals of Ancient Cyprus (Oxford, 2001) nos. 316, 325.

2. J. Boardman, Greek Gems and Finger Rings: Early Bronze Age to Late Classical (London, 1970) no. 979.

Publication History

  • G. Max Bernheimer, "Catalog of the Greek Engraved Gems in the Collection of the Harvard University Art Museums" (1988), p. 75-77, no. 26

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu