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Artwork Details
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Title:Seal Stone
Date:10th–11th century
Geography:Attributed to Iran, probably Nishapur
Medium:Hematite; incised with gold fittings
Dimensions:L. 13/32 in. (1 cm) W. 9/32 in. (.7 cm) D. 9/32 in. (.7 cm)
Classification:Seals
Credit Line:Fletcher Fund, 1975
Object Number:1975.118
Hematite Sealstone with Gold Fitting
The personal seal, which served in the Near East long before the advent of Islam as an individual official signature (as well as a very effective means of securing goods), was essential to the conducting of business affairs. According to tradition, the prophet Muhammad was told that his letters to foreign rulers would be taken seriously only if stamped with a personal seal. He thereupon ordered a seal made in the form of a ring.[1] Whether or not this story is true, the seal ring was certainly the most common way to carry a seal. Sometimes the inscription was cut into the metallic top of the ring, although it was probably more common for the inscription to be cut into a stone that was then set in the usual manner. Among the many stones employed as seals, carnelian was by far the most popular. We do not know whether this was, as Pliny (citing Zenothemis) affirmed,[2] because it did not pull away the wax upon which it was being impressed. Certainly carnelian has other qualities that recommend it for this use: availability, toughness, and resistance to abrasion. Seals were also commonly applied to clay and, after application of ink to the surface of the seal, to paper.
Early Islamic sealstones were made from many kinds of stones and came in many forms. Hematite enjoyed considerable popularity as a sealstone in pre-Islamic times and continued to be used for Islamic seals. Unique in our experience, however, are the form and imagery of this stone. Three of the four principal faces of the prism bear "inscriptions," although one of these has five lines of pseudo-Kufic script that say nothing at all. The face most visible in the illustration carries the admonition: "He believes [truly] who believes in God." The other inscribed face has three lines that begin at the top "al-Hasan al-Husayn 'Ali" and apparently continue with a listing of the Shi'ite imams. The collection contains another square-prism-shape sealstone of different proportions that also swivels on its axis (MMA 41.160.336), and another of related form–a three-sided, gabled, prism-shape seal of bronze (MMA 93.17.112).
Barely visible on the face at the bottom of this stone is the charming image of a lion with a scorpion. The conjunction of the lion and the scorpion must have held special significance in this period because the same combination appears on the obverse of each of two circular pendants from the Nishapur excavations (nos. 40.170.245 and .246)
[Jenkins and Keene 1983]
Footnotes:
1. Allan, James. "Khatam, Khatim." The Encycfopaedia of Islam, new ed., vol. 4. Leiden, 1978.
2. Pliny. Natural History, vol. 10. Translated by D. E. Eichholz. Cambridge, Mass., and London, 1962, p. 235.
Inscription: Inscribed on three faces: - one with five lines in pseudo-Kufic - one with one line in Kufic: he believes [truly] who believes in God - one with three lines in Kufic: al-Hasan, al Husayn, 'Ali and names of the Shi'ite Imams - fourth face has image of lion and scorpion. Inscribed in Kufic: Who believes in God is secure; in small lettering of no true script, the names of the twelve Imams. (Trans. by Annemarie Schimmel, 2/86)
Mrs. Juliet Erst Thomas, Cheyenne, WY (until 1975; sold to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Islamic Jewelry in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 22–August 14, 1983, no. 3f.
Keene, Manuel. "The Lapidary Arts in Islam." Expedition (1981). p. 29, ill. fig. 3f (b/w).
Jenkins-Madina, Marilyn, and Manuel Keene. Islamic Jewelry in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1983. no. 3f, pp. 19, 21, ill. no. 3f, fig. 1 (b/w).
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