-
Gold seal ring with carnelian scarab. View of bottom surface with carved boar. (Courtesy of the Vedat Nedim Tör Museum, Istanbul)
Gold seal ring with carnelian scarab
The Lydians and their World
(2010)
Cat. 126
- Date
- Late Lydian (Persian)
- Museum
- Istanbul, Archaeological Museum, 4632
- Museum Inventory No.
- 4632
- Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
- IAM 4632
- Material
- Gold, Stone
- Object Type
- Jewelry and Ornaments, Seal
- Site
- Sardis
- Sector
- Nec
- Trench
- Butler Tomb 722
- Locus
- Butler Tomb 722
- Description
- Gold seal ring, with carnelian scarab mounted on a swivel. The hoop is made of gold wire in the form of a horseshoe that terminates in hemispherical knobs. A pin running through the scarab is riveted to the knobs on either side. The scarab is delicately modelled, with a few incisions to represent the head, wings, and legs. The flat underside is carved in intaglio, with a bristly boar walking left on a ground line. Above the boar’s back is a symbol like the Lydian letter S rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise. Diameter 2.2 cm, length of scarab 1.3 cm, width 8.5 mm.
- Comments
- From Sardis, Tomb 722.
- See Also
- Dusinberre, “Seals”.
- Bibliography
- Curtis 1925, no. 98.
- Author
- ED