Sasanian Banded Agate Stamp Seal

Including triangular, leaf-shaped, barbed, paddle-shaped arrowheads with a flat, comparatively wide mid-rib, and others. 205 grams total, 37-93 mm



Ex London art market, 1980-1990s. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Fourteen arrowheads of this group were typical of the Old Babylonian Empire. The shoulders were pronounced and the arrowhead had a rectangular-section tapering tang. This simple form was popular across the ancient Near East, and similar items have been found in the Holy Land.

Discoid with a standing bird to the centre and loop to the rear; accompanied by typed and signed note by the late W.G. Lambert, Professor of Assyriology at the University of Birmingham, 1970-1993, which states: 'Stamp Seal of Bronze 24 x 24 x 13 mm. This is a flat disc cut from sheet metal with a pierced handle from the same material fixed on the back. It is round. The design shows a standing bird in the centre, something not yet identified in front of it and above it a crescent and to the side a hatched shape. The whole design is put within a circle of intertwining band. This is a rare seal from west central Asia, c. 500-100 B.C. It is in excellent condition.' 7.9 grams, 25 mm



Ex collection of a late London gentleman, 1990s. Accompanied by an original typed and signed scholarly note by the late W.G. Lambert, Professor of Assyriology at the University of Birmingham, 1970-1993. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Cylindrical body topped with a standing quadruped, likely a mouflon, accompanied by a copy of an old scholarly note, typed and signed by W.G. Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology, University of Birmingham, 1970-1993, which states: 'Cylinder Seal of Bronze, surmounted by a Horned Animal Maximum height 42mm., Diameter of seal: 15mm. The animal has big, back-curving horns, and was probably meant as a mouflon sheep. It is decorative, makes an imposing piece of a simple seal shape. The design of the seal is a wavey line creating triangular spaces, which are filed with triangles of a smaller size or arrow-heads. In one case the latter and a v-shaped extra wavey line are used. The date of these ornamented seals has been disputed. Some scholars have put them in the third millennium B.C., some in the first millennium. The seal design is well known for the latter half of the third millennium and the beginning of the second millennium B.C., and the animal gives the impression of being related to such creatures in bronze from third millennium Anatolia. Thus this is a late-third-millennium seal, and is to be placed somewhere in the area from Anatolia to Kurdistan. Its condition is fine, and the metal sculpture is well done.' 25.7 grams, 41 mm



UK private collection, acquired 1990-1993. Accompanied by a copy of a scholarly note, typed and signed by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert in 1990.

Seals were the working signatures of the ancient Near East. Pressed or rolled into wet clay, they secured jars, bags, doors and tablets, and left a distinct impression that identified the owner, authorised a transaction, and showed whether a container had been opened. Stamp seals (pressed once to leave a single emblem) appear from the 7th–4th millennia BC and continue throughout later periods; cylinder seals (rolled to create a repeating frieze) develop in Mesopotamia in the late 4th millennium BC and are used into the 1st millennium BC. Beyond administration, seals were miniature artworks and amulets. Their images—gods and worshippers, royal hunts, banquets, heroes and mythic beasts—broadcast rank, piety and profession, and were believed to protect the owner. Materials range from soft stones to hard chalcedonies, haematite and lapis, worked with drills and abrasives to achieve crisp intaglio cutting. Many were worn on cords or rings and followed their owners through life, sometimes into the grave. Seals matter because they underpin the earliest systems of record-keeping and trade. Impressions on tablets and bullae are primary documents for ancient law, economy and religion; the seals themselves preserve that imagery in the round.