Minoan seal with volutes
€1,570
available
Object number
AR3520E
| Object: |
Minoan seal with volutes
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| Material: |
Black serpentine with fine, grey inclusions.
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| Period: |
Middle Minoan II, C. 1850 BC to 1700 BC, Aegaen Bronze Age. |
| Description: |
Minoan button-like seal in the shape of a disc with a triangular handle. A hole through the handle allowed the seal to be threaded. The stamp surface features volutes with spheres and prisms.
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| Background: |
The Minoan seals of Crete offer a key to the Bronze Age world of the Minoans, whose culture flourished in the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. These small, artfully engraved objects not only served as practical markings for goods and possessions, but also reflected religious ideas, social structures, and aesthetic principles. Glyptics developed into an independent art form on Crete. Animal depictions, cult scenes, and abstract symbols were carved into materials such as steatite, jasper, or agate. Compared to seals from Egypt or Mesopotamia, the Minoan pieces demonstrate remarkable originality, despite the close Mediterranean trade relations. For collectors and researchers, these seals are far more than artifacts. They are windows into a lost world whose secrets have aroused curiosity and the spirit of discovery since the time of Sir Arthur Evans. |
| Dimensions: |
Diameter 15.6mm. Height 8.4mm. Hole diameter 2mm.
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| Condition: |
Slight bumps on the top and bottom, otherwise in perfect condition.
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| Provenance: |
Acquired by us in 2023 on the German art market. Previously in the Grumach family collection. The founder Dr. Ernst Grumach acquired the seal before 1968. Dr. Ernst Grumach (1902–1967) was a broadly positioned scholar specializing in classical philology, Egyptology, and linguistics. He placed an emphasis on the proto-writings of the Bronze Age Aegean. His collection of Cretan seals was created with a keen eye for significant pieces. It was studied by Ingo Pini, presumably in the 1960s during Dr. Grumach's lifetime, and later published with funding from the German Ministry of Education and Research. |
| Publications: |
Described in detail and illustrated in Ingo Pini, Corpus der minoischen und mykenischen Siegel (CMS), volume XI Kleinere europäische Sammlungen, p. 85, no. 76 (Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz, 1988). Digitized in Arachne, the central object database of the German Archaeological Institute, Arachne-ID 1160107. |
| Literature: |
Relevant publications by or about Dr. Ernst Grumach, E. Grumach, Bibliographie der kretisch-mykenischen Epigraphik (Berlin and Munich, 1961). Festschrift for the 65. birthday of Ernst Grumach (posthum), W. C. Brice, Studien zur Geschichte und Epigraphik der frühen Aegaeis (Berlin, 1967). |
| Authenticity: |
We unconditionally guarantee the authenticity of every artefact, all items are subject to our lifetime return policy on authenticity.
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