Harvard Art Museums > 1984.817: Scaraboid Stamp Seal: Rider Attacks Boar Seals Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Scaraboid Stamp Seal: Rider Attacks Boar , 1984.817,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Apr 26, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/289035. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 1984.817 Title Scaraboid Stamp Seal: Rider Attacks Boar Classification Seals Work Type seal Date 500-400 BCE Period Classical period Culture Achaemenid Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/289035 Physical Descriptions Medium Agate Technique Intaglio Dimensions 1.7 x 2.1 cm (11/16 x 13/16 in.) Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Jerome B. Spier in honor of Professor Hanfmann Accession Year 1984 Object Number 1984.817 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Description This agate scaraboid stamp seal features an image of a rider attacking a rampant boar. The carving of the horse is shallow, save for the swells of its chest and hindquarters. Its head and neck are large in comparison to the rest of its body. The rider has a large head and a long beard, and is wearing a pointed cap. In his upraised hand he holds a spear. The boar has a lumpy body and a triangular head. It stands on its hind legs, and extends one foreleg towards the horse’s head. The pointed cap and long beard identify the rider as a Persian. Board hunt scenes occur on Achaemenid Persian seals as early as c. 500 BCE in the Persepolis Fortification Archive (1). They also occur among the seals used in the Murashu Archive in Nippur in the fifth century BCE (2) and among the seal bullae excavated at Daskyleion in northwestern Turkey (3). This motif also occurs on a number of other scaraboid stamp seals, sometimes with the hunter on foot instead of mounted (4). NOTES 1. M. B. Garrison, “Notes on a Boar Hunt (PFS 2323),” Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 54.2 (2011) 17-20. 2. L. B. Bregstein, Seal Use in Fifth Century B.C. Nippur, Iraq: A Study of Seal Selection and Sealing Practices in the Murašû Archive (Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1993) nos. 145-51. 3. D. Kaptan, The Daskyleion Bullae: Seal Images from the Western Achaemenid Empire (Leiden, 2002) nos. 90, 92. 4. J. Boardman, Greek Gems and Finger Rings: Early Bronze Age to Late Classical (London, 1970) nos. 885, 905, 925, 926, 972, 980. 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
