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Conoid stamp seal

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Object number
AR1954-02
Object: Iron Age conoidal stamp seal

Material: Green-brown stone mottled with black.

Period: Iron Age II,
1000 BC to 550 BC.

Description:    Seal of conoid shape. A through-hole at the upper end enabled the seal to be threaded. An engraved scene is on the flat side. Schematically depicted are two worshipers holding a centrally placed spade or tree of life. Above it is a circle representing the sun disk or full moon.
This representation was widespread throughout the Near East and Egypt during the Middle Bronze Age and Iron Age II. In this case, the seal comes from the latter period and can be geographically assigned to the cultures in North Syria or Southeast Anatolia.

Dimensions: 16mm tall, stamp area c. 16mm x 12mm. Loop hole c. 1.9mm diameter.

Condition: Museum condition. Perfectly preserved apart from minimal chips.

Provenance: From the German collection of Professor H. Brosch (1923 to 2009), author of historical publications, scientific museum advisor, decorated by the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. The collection was built between 1960 and 1975. It was inherited to U. Buechner, Germany, and then acquired by us in 2013.

The Professor Brosch collection of ancient Gems:
After the decline of the Roman Empire, ancient gems retained or regained recognition in medieval Europe. In addition to frequent reuse in church art, there were also profane uses. This is shown by the example of the ancient intaglio of Julia, daughter of Emperor Titus. It was reused in the 9th century by the Merovingians in the "Escrain de Charlemagne" and can be admired today in the French National Library.
The reception of ancient glyptic during the Italian Renaissance resulted in a great fashion to collect gems, which could be entertained by the European educated bourgeoisie during journeys through the Mediterranean in the spirit of enlightenment and education. Thus Goethe, inspired by his trip to Italy, which was immortalised in literature, also built up a collection of antiquities.
The collection of ancient intaglios by Professor Brosch is certainly a late classicist continuation of this tradition. The collection forms a systematic cross-section of the thematic diversity of ancient gems and has been worked on extensively with a scholarly approach. Professor Brosch had a great interest, not only in ancient history, but also in the more recent history of his home region. He was honoured with the Federal Cross of Merit for his achievements in the field of historical studies. It is with pride that we have fully documented this collection and provided it with literature references. We are now pleased to bring these miniature works of art from the ancient world back into circulation and to enrich a collection in the tradition of the Renaissance and Enlightenment in a worthy manner.
If you are interested in purchasing the collection in its entirety, please do not hesitate to contact us.

References: Cf. J. Waalke-Meyer, Die eisenzeitlichen Stempelsiegel aus dem 'Amuq-Gebiet, OBOSA 28 (2008), p. 34, fig. 15. And for the oval stamp area p. 62, fig. 37:2.
Similar O. Keel, Corpus der Stempelsiegel-Amulette aus Palästina/Israel, OBOSA 33, (2013), p. 452f, no. 665. The piece has a similar composition, is however a scaraboid. It comes from the southern Levantine area, from Gezer, and dates to the Iron Age IIA.
An at least partially similar composition on a Syrian seal can be found in L. Jakob-Rost, Die Stempelsiegel im Vorderasiatischen Museum Berlin (1997), p. 46f, no. 96, and also on p. 44f, no. 86 with two seated figures.

Authenticity: We unconditionally guarantee the authenticity of every artefact, all items are subject to our lifetime return policy on authenticity.