Harvard Art Museums > 1987.36: Scaraboid Stamp Seal: Recumbent Bull with Bird Perched on Back 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: Recumbent Bull with Bird Perched on Back , 1987.36,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Apr 20, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/289190. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 1987.36 Title Scaraboid Stamp Seal: Recumbent Bull with Bird Perched on Back Classification Seals Work Type seal Date 400-300 BCE Period Classical period, Late Culture Achaemenid Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/289190 Physical Descriptions Medium Brown chalcedony Technique Intaglio Dimensions 2.3 cm (7/8 in.) Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Jonathan H. Kagan Accession Year 1987 Object Number 1987.36 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 chalcedony scaraboid stamp seal features an image of a recumbent zebu bull with a large bird on its back. The bull’s body and head are rounded, and his legs, which are thin and knobby, are folded beneath him. Two straight horns rise from the top of his head, and an ear is indicated at the back of the head. The bird stands on the bull’s hindquarters. It has a straight beak and a swell at its chest. It holds one wing slightly raised. The zebu, marked by its distinctive hump, first appears on Mesopotamian seals in the early second millennium BCE (1), and continues down into the fifth and fourth centuries, to period to which this seal likely belongs (2). The depiction of a bird on the bull’s back is quite unusual, and occurs primarily on a group of seals believed to have been made in the late eighth century BCE in southern Anatolia (3). Its appearance on this seal must be a survival or revival of this earlier motif, and may also suggest an eastern Mediterranean origin for it. NOTES 1. D. T. Potts, Mesopotamian Civilization: The Material Foundations (London, 1997) 254-7. 2. E.g., D. Collon, First Impressions: Cylinder Seals in the Ancient Near East (Chicago, 1987) no. 907; J. Boardman, Greek Gems and Finger Rings: Early Bronze Age to Late Classical (London, 1970) nos. 985-6. 3. J. Boardman and G. Buchner, “Seals from Ischia and the Lyre-Player Group,” Jahrbuch des deutschen archäologischen Instituts 81 (1966) 1-62. 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
