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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2023.501.12
Title
Stamp Seal with Three Bird Heads
Classification
Seals
Work Type
seal
Date
10th-8th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Luristan (Iran)
Find Spot: Middle East, Iran, Western Iran
Period
Iron Age
Culture
Iranian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/303612

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Mixed copper alloy
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
5.8 x 3.1 cm (2 5/16 x 1 1/4 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Tracer
Alloy: Mixed Copper Alloy
Alloying Elements: copper, tin, antimony
Other Elements: lead, iron, nickel, silver, arsenic

K. Eremin, January 2014

Technical Observations: The patina is primarily green, with darker brown in worn areas and under the rust-colored accretions on one side that run across part of two of bird heads. Some tan burial accretions remain in the recesses.

This stamp was cast in one piece by the lost-wax process. The surface is quite worn and the details smoothed, making it difficult to characterize the quality of the details or to determine whether some details were cold worked rather than cast. Some of the short strokes that define the coiled rope pattern on the base of the stamp appear to have been created with a punch or chisel in the metal. The sharp definition of some of the patterns in the stamp suggest that they were probably at least enhanced with punches in the metal.


Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2012)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Kurt H. Weil, Montclair, NJ (1927-1992), by descent; to Kathleen Weil-Garris Brandt, New York (1992-2023), gift; to the Harvard Art Museums.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Professor Kathleen Weil-Garris Brandt
Accession Year
2023
Object Number
2023.501.12
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Related Objects

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be 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