Minoan Facetted Carnelian Stamp Seal

CIRCA 20TH-15TH CENTURY B.C.

7/8 in. (4.21 grams, 21 mm).

Four-sided bead with an oval panel on each side: panel 1: reclining feline with frontal head with apotropaic eyes; panel 2: three-leaved plant opposite a goblet(?) with four pellets and two crosses; panel 3: a plant and a big frontal apotropaic eye; panel 4: three segments, a plant, a butterfly or a bird; accompanied by museum-quality impressions.

Provenance

From the collection of the late Mr Priday, Hertfordshire, UK, thence by descent.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13339-258812.

Literature

Cf. Yule, P., Early Cretan Seals: A Study of Chronology, Marburger Studien zur Vor- und Frühgeschichte, 4, Mainz am Rhein, 1981,
pp. 65-66 (four-sided prism type), and pls.7,12-14 (iconography).

Footnotes

Four-sided prisms are usually fashioned in jasper, light-coloured chalcedony and lightly banded carnelian. The workmanship is usually excellent. Largely on stylistic grounds, these seals are datable mostly to MMII (c. 2100–1875 B.C.), although they occur both slightly earlier and later.

CONDITION

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LOT 0081