Stamp seal and modern impression: unicorn and incense burner (?)

Stamp seal and modern impression: unicorn and incense burner (?)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Stamp seals were used in antiquity as marks of ownership and badges of status. In the large urban centers of the Harappan civilization, hundreds of square-shaped stamp seals were found in excavations. They are engraved with images of wild or domestic animals, humans, fantastic creatures, and possibly divinities. In this example, the creature is rendered in the typical strict profile, standing before what might be an altar. Its shoulder is covered by a decorated quilt or harness in the shape of an upside-down heart pattern. Most of the square stamp seals have inscriptions along the top edge. The Indus script, invented around 2600 B.C., is yet to be fully deciphered.

Ancient Near Eastern Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Stamp seal and modern impression: unicorn and incense burner (?)Stamp seal and modern impression: unicorn and incense burner (?)Stamp seal and modern impression: unicorn and incense burner (?)Stamp seal and modern impression: unicorn and incense burner (?)Stamp seal and modern impression: unicorn and incense burner (?)

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.