MEDIA INFORMATION

 
 
 
COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
Record
AMICA ID:
MMA_.1984.4
AMICA Library Year:
2002
Object Type:
Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
Description:

Western Central Asia, now known as Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and northern Afghanistan, has yielded objects attesting to a highly developed civilization in the late third and early second millennium B.C . Artifacts from the region indicate that there were contacts with Iran to the southwest.

Openwork copper or bronze stamp seals, often called "compartmented" seals, were cast in both geometric and figural patterns in Bactria-Margiana and are distinctive to that region. This copper-alloy example represents a male figure dressed in a short kilt and mountain boots with upturned toes. If his horned headdress is similar in meaning to examples found in Mesopotamia and Iran, the figure may be divine. The arrow-shaped forms emerging from his shoulders and under his arm may represent snakes or lightning bolts.

Creator Nationality:
Asian; Central Asian; Bactrian
Creator Name-CRT:
Central Asia (Bactria-Margiana)
Title:
Openwork stamp seals
View:
Principal view
Creation Date:
late 3rd?early 2nd millennium B.C.
Creation Start Date:
0
Creation End Date:
0
Materials and Techniques:
Copper alloy
Creation Place:
Central Asia (Bactria-Margiana)
Dimensions:
3 5/8 in. (9.2 cm)
AMICA Contributor:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Owner Location:
New York, New York
ID Number:
1984.4
Credit Line:
Purchase, David L. Klein Jr. Memorial Foundation Inc. Gift and Gift of Lester Wolfe, by exchange, 1984
Copyright:
Copyright ? 2002 The Metropolitan Museum of Art . All rights reserved.
Rights:
Related Image Identifier Link:
MMA_.h1_1984.4.tif

Openwork stamp seals

Openwork stamp seals