The stamp seal (also impression seal) is a common seal die, frequently carved from stone, known at least since the 6th millennium BC (Halaf culture[1]) and probably earlier. The dies were used to impress their picture or inscription into soft, prepared clay and sometimes in sealing wax.

A stamp seal and its impression. The impression rotated clockwise 90 degrees probably yields a version of the Tree of Life-(see Urartian art photos).

The oldest stamp seals were button-shaped objects with primitive ornamental forms chiseled onto them.[2] The stamp seals were replaced in the 4th millennium BC by cylinder seals that had to be rolled over the soft clay to leave an imprint.[1] From the 12th century BC the previous designs were largely abandoned in favor of amphora stamps.[3] Romans introduced their signaculum around the first century BC;[3] Byzantine maintained the tradition in their commercial stamps.[4]

In antiquity the stamp seals were common, largely because they served to authenticate legal documents, such as tax receipts, contracts, wills and decrees.

Indus stamp-seal

edit
 
Indus seal, (with modern impression); from ca. mid- to late-3rd millennium BC.(?)

The Indus stamp-seals probably had a different function from the stamp seals of the Minoan civilization, as they typically have script characters, with still undeciphered associations.

edit

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b Brown & Feldman 2013, p. 304.
  2. ^ Di Palma 2015, p. 21.
  3. ^ a b Di Palma 2015, p. 24.
  4. ^ Vikan 1991.

Sources

edit
  • Garbini. Landmarks of the World's Art, The Ancient World, by Giovanni Garbini, (McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, Toronto), General Eds, Bernard S. Myers, New York, Trewin Copplestone, London, c 1966. Numerous examples of the Cylinder seal; ( 3 ) separate Discussions (only) of "Stamp sealing". No seals, or impressions thereof.
  • Yule, Paul (1981). Early Cretan seals: a study of chronology (Marburger Studien zur Vor- und Frühgeschichte, Bd. 4). Mainz: NN. doi:10.11588/diglit.3044.
  • Di Palma, Salvatore (2015). The History of Marks from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Société des écrivains.
  • Brown, Brian A.; Feldman, Marian H. (2013). Critical Approaches to Ancient Near Eastern Art. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 9781614510352.
  • Vikan, Gary (1991-01-01). "Stamps, Commercial". The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195046526.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.
edit