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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1960.636
Title
Scaraboid Stamp Seal: Heron with Leg Raised
Classification
Seals
Work Type
seal
Date
c. 450 BCE
Period
Classical period, High
Culture
Achaemenid
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/290509

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Mottled red jasper in a silver ring
Technique
Intaglio
Dimensions
Diam: 2 cm (13/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Tyszkievicz Collection. David M. Robinson, bequest; to the Fogg Art Museum,1960.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of David M. Robinson
Accession Year
1960
Object Number
1960.636
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
This red jasper scaraboid stamp seal features an image of a heron standing in profile. The heron stands on one leg and raises the other in front of its chest. Its wing covers most of its body, and its neck forms an S-curve. The face of the seal is hampered by several large cracks.

A number of stamp seals feature images of herons (1). Two exquisite examples found in southern Russia are signed by Dexamenos, and several other seals, including this one, are attributed to his workshop (2). However, the closest match to the composition of this seal is provided by a seal impression on a clay bulla found in the Persepolis Treasury (3). Thus the likelihood is that the seal in the Sackler Museum collection was used somewhere in the Persian Empire during the fifth century BCE, if not actually made there.

NOTES

1. J. D. Beazley, The Lewes House Collection of Ancient Gems (Oxford, 1920) 59-61.

2. J. Boardman, Greek Gems and Finger Rings: Early Bronze Age to Late Classical (London, 1970) 194-9, nos. 468-9; D. M. Robinson, “Unpublished Greek Gold Jewelry and Gems,” American Journal of Archaeology 57 (1953) 19.

3. E. F. Schmidt, Persepolis II: The Contents of the Treasury and Other Discoveries (Chicago, 1957) pl. 14 (seal no. 67).

Publication History

  • Lady Helena Carnegie, Catalogue of the Collection of Antique Gems Formed by James Ninth Earl of Southesk K.T., Bernard Quaritch (London, 1908), no. B5
  • David M. Robinson, "Unpublished Greek Gold Jewelry and Gems", American Journal of Archaeology, Archaeological Institute of America (New York, 1953), vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 5-19, p. 19
  • Fogg Art Museum, The David Moore Robinson Bequest of Classical Art and Antiquities, A Special Exhibition, exh. cat., Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, 1961), p. 42, no. 380
  • John Boardman, Greek Gems and Finger Rings: Early Bronze Age to Late Classical, Thames and Hudson, Ltd. (London, 1970), pl. 555; p. 411, no. 193

Exhibition History

  • The David Moore Robinson Bequest of Classical Art and Antiquities: A Special Exhibition, Fogg Art Museum, 05/01/1961 - 09/20/1961
  • Echoes from Mount Olympus: The Minor Arts of Classical Antiquity, University Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley

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