Stamp seal (loaf-shaped hemispheroid) with animal

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Stamp seals were used in antiquity as marks of ownership and badges of status. This seal is pierced so that it could be suspended on a string and be worn. On its flattened side a rearing horse is depicted standing erect with its head turned back toward its body. The image is carved into the surface of the stone and appears in relief when the seal is pressed into clay.

Ancient Near Eastern Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art cares for approximately 7,000 works ranging in date from the eighth millennium B.C. through the centuries just beyond the emergence of Islam in the seventh century A.D. Objects in the collection were created by people in the area that today comprises Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean coast, Yemen, and Central Asia. From the art of some of the world's first cities to that of great empires, the department's holdings illustrate the beauty and craftsmanship as well as the profound interconnections, cultural and religious diversity, and lasting legacies that characterize the ancient art of this vast region.

Metropolitan Museum of Art