Harvard Art Museums > 1987.37: Scaraboid Stamp Seal: Bird in Flight to Right with Cycle-shaped Wing Seals Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Scaraboid Stamp Seal: Bird in Flight to Right with Cycle-shaped Wing , 1987.37,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Dec 22, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/289176. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 1987.37 Title Scaraboid Stamp Seal: Bird in Flight to Right with Cycle-shaped Wing Classification Seals Work Type seal Date 500-300 BCE Period Classical period Culture Anatolian Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/289176 Physical Descriptions Medium Red steatite Technique Intaglio Dimensions 1.7 cm (11/16 in.) Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Jonathan H. Kagan Accession Year 1987 Object Number 1987.37 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Description This serpentine scaraboid stamp seal features an image of a bird in flight. The bird has a rounded breast and a wedge-shaped tail, with individual feathers represented. Its head is upright, and has a small, pointed beak. One wing is shown, covering much of its body and extending upward and curling toward the back of the bird’s head. Feathers, indicated by grooves, run the entire length of the wing and fan out at the top. The bird’s feet extend outward behind it. A palm branch is in the field below the bird. The imagery of this seal is sufficiently generic so as to make attribution and dating difficult. The shape and decoration of the wing is paralleled by the wing of a griffin on a stamp seal attested in the Daskyleion bullae discovered in northwestern Turkey (1); similar wings appear on other mythical creatures on stamp seals attributed to western Anatolia in the Achaemenid period (2). The Daskyleion seals include several other images of individual birds (3), so this seal is probably Anatolian and of fifth or fourth century date. NOTES 1. D. Kaptan, The Daskyleion Bullae: Seal Images from the Western Achaemenid Empire (Leiden, 2002) no. 122. 2. J. Boardman, “Pyramidal Stamp Seals in the Persian Empire,” Iran 8 (1970) nos. 3-4, 8, 117, 125, 129-30, 144, 146, 165, 167. 3. Kaptan, Daskyleion Bullae, nos. 123-9. 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
