Cylinder seal and modern impression: female figure seated on a platform with "pigtailed ladies" and pots

Although engraved stones had been used as early as the seventh millennium B.C. to stamp impressions in clay, the invention in the fourth millennium B.C. of carved cylinders that could be rolled over clay allowed the development of more complex seal designs. These cylinder seals, first used in Mesopotamia, served as a mark of ownership or identification. Seals were either impressed on lumps of clay that were used to close jars, doors, and baskets, or they were rolled onto clay tablets that recorded information about commercial or legal transactions. The seals were often made of precious stones. Protective properties may have been ascribed to both the material itself and the carved designs. Seals are important to the study of ancient Near Eastern art because many examples survive from every period and can, therefore, help to define chronological phases. Often preserving imagery no longer extant in any other medium, they serve as a visual chronicle of style and iconography.

The modern impression of the seal is shown so that the entire design can be seen. The imagery on this seal depicts a figure squatting on a platform being served by two "pigtailed ladies", one sitting behind her and the other in font of her holding a vessel. A fourth figure sits on the ground line with arms outstretched to clasp the handle of a large vessel. Above this figure is a large arc, which may be a covering, or may be an inverted quadruped with an elongated tail. The rest of the field is filled with vessels of two types. The predominant vessel, of which there are five, is depicted with one large round drill mark for the body and two smaller drill marks on top and bottom. In addition, there are two more small vessels or containers of unknown type resting on the ground line of the seal. They are formed with triangular bodies and two almost wing-like loops sprouting from their tops.