ANCIENT SEAL BEADS PART II


 

 

 

FIRE ALTARS








 



 

  Seal  90 -   14 * 9 mm
 


 


 
 



 

    Seal  91 -    19 * 16,5 * 11,5 mm


 


 


 
 



 

  Seal  92 -   16 * 14 * 9 mm

Fire Alter with a Star


 


 


 
 



   

 Seal  93 -   14,5 * 12 * 10,5 mm


 


 


 
 



   

  Seal  94 -   19,5 * 16,5 * 15,5  mm


 


 

 

NOMADIC TAMGA SEALS


 
 



 

  Seal  95 -   10 * 7,5 mm

 


 


 
 



 

  Seal  96 -   13 * 11 * 10,5 mm
 

 


 


 
 



 

  Seal  97 -   17 * 13 * 8 mm


 


 


 
 



    

 Seal  98 -    15 * 12 * 7 mm


 


 


 
 



   
15
Seal  99 -   15 * 12,5  * 7  mm


 


 


 
 

 

    

Seal  100 -   15 * 13 * 10,5  mm
 
 



 

 

VARIOUS MAMMALS


 
 



 

Seal  101 -    13  * 11   * 10,5  mm
 


 


 
 



 

  Seal  102 -   15 * 12,5   * 9  mm
 



 


 
 



  

 Seal  103 -    19 * 15,5   * 14  mm
 


 


 
 


 



 Seal  104 -   22  * 19   * 15  mm
 


 


 
 



 

 

   Seal  105 -   12 *  9,5  * 9,5  mm
 


 


LIONS


 



   

Seal  106 -   10,5   * 8,5  mm
 
 


 


 
 


 

 

 Seal  107 -   16  * 13   * 13  mm
 


 


 
 


 

Seal  108 -     *    *   mm
 


 


 


 
 



 



 1Seal  109 -   16  * 11 mm

Sasanian Chalcedony Seal Bead with Frontal Lion

This Sasanian seal bead, carved from pale translucent chalcedony, presents a lion in one of the most forceful modes of late antique Persian glyptic: not merely in motion, but confronting the viewer. The bead is shaped in a rounded tabloid form and pierced laterally for suspension, identifying it as a wearable seal amulet: an object intended to accompany the body while also serving as a practical sign of identity and authority. The stone’s soft inner glow and smooth, even polish give the engraving a calm surface from which the image emerges with concentrated strength.

The lion is rendered in a compact and highly controlled design. Its head is shown en face, or nearly so, creating an immediate and commanding presence. The broad facial plane, open mouth, and compressed body give the creature a heraldic quality rather than a naturalistic one. Short engraved cuts define the mane and upper body, while the tail curves outward in a stylized flourish. The result is an image reduced to essentials, yet fully alive with tension and force.

In the Iranian world, the lion was an animal of rank, vigilance, and contained power. On a seal bead such as this, it becomes more than ornament. It is a sign of presence, carried on the person and impressed into clay as an extension of the owner’s identity.

 


 


 
 





 Seal  110 -   20,5  * 16,5  * 12  mm

 


 


 
 





 Seal  111 -   15  * 12  * 9,5  mm
 

 


 


 
 





 Seal  112 -   12,5  * 9,5  mm

 


 


 
 



 

 Seal  113 -   14  * 12  * 10  mm

 


 


 
 

 

 
 
   Seal  114 -    14  *  13 * 8,5 mm

 


 


 
 





 Seal  115 -   18  * 14  * 11,5  mm

 


 


 
 



  
 Seal  116 -   17  * 15  * 11  mm


 


 


 
 


 

  Seal  117 -   14 *  13  * 9  mm
 
 





 


 
 



 
  Seal  118 -   12  * 10,5  mm
 
 





 


 
 




 Seal  119 -   13 * 11  * 9,5  mm

 





 


 
 



 
 Seal  120 -   16,5 * 8,5 *  mm
 





 


 
 



 



 Seal  121 -   13 * 9,5 *  mm

Sasanian Green Jasper Seal Bead with Running Horned Animal

This Sasanian seal bead, carved from dark green jasper, preserves a vivid image of animal motion in the compact and disciplined language of late antique Persian glyptic. Its rounded tabloid form, pierced laterally for suspension, identifies it as a wearable seal amulet: an object meant to accompany the body while also serving as a personal mark of identity and authority. The stone has a dense, mineral-rich surface and a subdued polish that gives the engraving weight and gravity.
 
The seal face depicts a horned animal in swift lateral movement, most plausibly a ram or wild sheep. The body is compressed into a powerful oval mass, while the legs extend in rhythmic angular strokes that convey speed and tension. At the front, the head projects with alert force, and the curved horn or horned crest gives the creature its essential identity. The engraver has reduced the animal to a few decisive forms, yet the sense of motion is unmistakable. This is not a passive creature at rest, but one caught in the charged instant of running.
 
In the Iranian world, horned animals carried meanings of vitality, mountain strength, virility, and untamed natural power. On a seal bead such as this, the image becomes more than ornament. It is a sign of force held in disciplined form, carried on the body and impressed into clay as an extension of the owner’s presence.

 





 


 
 





Seal  122 -   11,5 * 10 *  mm
Sasanian Green Jasper Seal Bead with Running Hare

This Sasanian seal bead, carved from dark green jasper, preserves a wonderfully lively image in the compact and disciplined language of late antique Persian glyptic. Its rounded tabloid form, pierced laterally for suspension, identifies it as a wearable seal amulet:an object intended to rest against the body while also serving as a personal sign of identity and authority. The stone itself has a dense, mineral-rich presence, its dark green surface polished to a muted sheen that gives the engraving depth and gravity.

The seal face depicts a running hare, reduced to a few incisive forms yet instantly legible. The long upright ears define the animal at once, while the compact body and extended limbs create a vivid sense of movement. This is no creature at rest. It is caught in the quick, tense moment of flight, its whole body gathered into speed. The engraver has used great economy, but the result is remarkably alive: alert, agile, and full of contained energy.

In the Iranian world, the hare could carry associations of swiftness, vitality, watchfulness, and the quick pulse of untamed life. On a seal bead such as this, the image becomes more than ornament. It is a sign of mobile force, carried on the person and impressed into clay as an extension of the owner’s presence.

Small in scale yet full of animation, this bead preserves a particularly graceful aspect of Sasanian art: the ability to distill the life of an animal into a few exact and enduring cuts.
 





 


 
 


 

Seal  123 -   11 * 9 *  mm

 



 

 

STARS AND SYMBOLS


 
 



Seal  124 -   19 * 17,5 * 8,5  mm

 


 


 
 

 



Seal  125 -   15,5 * 14  * 13,5  mm

 


 


 
 


 
 

Seal  126 -   15 * 13,5 * 12  mm

 


 


 
 


 


   Seal  127 -   12 *  10 * 7,5  mm
 
 


 


 
 


  



  Seal  128 -    12,5 * 11  * 8  mm
 
 


 


 
 


 
  Seal  129 -   13 *  11,5 * 10,5  mm

 


 


 
 



 

   Seal  130 -   13 *  11,5 * 10,5  mm
 


 


 
 



 

Seal  131 -     14 *  12 * 10  mm
 
 


 


 
 



   

 Seal  132 -     15 * 13  * 10  mm

 


 


 
 





   Seal  133 -    18,5 * 16,5  * 10  mm
 
 


 


 
 


 

  Seal  134 -    18 * 15  * 14,5  mm
 
 


 


 
 




 Seal  135 -     14,4 *  13 *  10 mm
 


 


 
 


 

  Seal  136 -    16,5 *  14 * 11,5  mm

 


 


 
 



   


 Seal  137 -    20,5  * 17  * 13,5  mm
 
 
 


 


 

 




 
   Seal  138 -    26  *  22 * 23  mm

 Sasanian Chalcedony Seal Bead with Geometric Cultic Cosmogram
This substantial Sasanian seal bead, carved from pale chalcedony, preserves a striking example of late antique Iranian sacred geometry translated into wearable form. Its large rounded tabloid body, pierced laterally for suspension, identifies it as a seal amulet intended to be carried on the body while also serving as a personal mark of identity and authority. The stone itself is beautifully chosen: softly translucent, milky white, and quietly luminous, with a settled surface that gives the bead both gravity and calm.

The engraved face presents a dense geometric composition built around a central arched form, framed by strong horizontal lines and surrounded by angular, branching, and radiating devices. Beneath the arch appears a rosette-like star enclosed within a lower register, while the upper field opens into a fan of emanating strokes. The design is not decorative in the ordinary sense. It reads as a deliberate cultic cosmogram: part shrine, part astral diagram, part ritual enclosure. The arched center suggests a sanctified interior, gate, or altar-front, while the rosette below evokes celestial order, radiant force, and the structured power of the heavens. The surrounding lines complete the field, giving the image the character of a sacred system rather than an isolated sign.

Such imagery belongs to the religious imagination of Sasanian Iran, where seals could compress theology, protection, and identity into a single engraved surface. This bead does not narrate; it orders. It presents sacred space itself in miniature—an emblem of enclosure, radiance, and divine arrangement: cut with the disciplined economy that gives Sasanian glyptic its enduring authority.
 
 


 


 
 



   

   Seal  139 -    21  *  19 * 9,5  mm
 
 


 


 
 

 

  


 Seal  140 -      22,5  *  14 * 14 mm
 
 


 


 
 




 

 

    Seal  141 -      14  *  13 * 6 mm
 


 


 
 


 


Seals as Medicine?
A knowledgeable friend of mine, who has spent many years collecting ancient seals, once told me something that stayed with me. Many of the small Sasanian seals in his collection, he said, had come from China. That detail mattered to him. It suggested that these little objects had not simply remained within the Iranian world where they were first made, but had travelled far east, into the wider cultural world of the Silk Roads.

He was careful about how he explained this. Not every part of the story can be easily checked online. Some of the relevant information, he believed, survives in specialist books, old catalogues, private collections, museum records, and conversations among scholars and collectors. Much of that material has never been digitized, and some of it remains inside copyrighted publications that are difficult to access. So his view was not based on a single simple source, but on years of handling objects, comparing examples, and listening to people who knew the field well.

According to him, the fact that many small Sasanian seals had surfaced in China may point to a life beyond ordinary decoration or exchange. Some may have been valued not only as seals or beads, but as powerful stones. Their agate, carnelian, or chalcedony bodies may have mattered as much as the images engraved into them. In Chinese and Inner Asian traditions, precious stones could be understood as active materials, linked with protection, healing, vitality, and spiritual force.

He compared this to the way dzi beads are understood in Himalayan cultures. There, ancient agate beads are not treated merely as ornaments. They can be protective, medicinal, auspicious, and ritually powerful.

 



My friend wondered whether some small Sasanian seals that reached China may have been appreciated in a similar spirit: worn close to the body, kept as charms, handled ritually, or valued for the virtue believed to reside in the stone itself.

This idea fits a broader Asian pattern. In premodern China and neighboring regions, materials such as agate, carnelian, jade, pearl, amber, coral, and other precious substances were not always divided into modern categories like jewelry, medicine, ritual object, or amulet. The same object could move between all of these worlds. A small carved stone from distant Iran could carry beauty, rarity, foreign origin, and a sense of hidden potency.
 
Seen through his eyes, a small Sasanian seal found in or coming from China was more than a collectible artifact. It was a traveler across cultures. It may have passed through merchants’ hands, entered local collections, been worn as a bead, treasured as a charm, or valued as a medicinal or protective substance. Its importance may have rested not only in its workmanship, but also in the power people believed the stone could hold.

He never claimed that this could be proven in every case. Without a specific excavation record, inscription, medical text, or published catalogue entry, such an interpretation has to remain cautious. But the fact that many small Sasanian seals are said to have come from China gives the idea weight. It places them in the right historical landscape: a world where foreign stones, sacred materials, healing objects, and personal ornaments often belonged to the same story.


 
 
  Seal  142 -      16 * 15 * 12 mm

 


 


 
 


 


 


 
 


 

    
 Seal  143 -     20 * 18 * 15 mm
 Click on pictures for larger version

The jasper seal showcased below exemplifies this cultural intermingling. The presence of the swastika, a prominent motif in both Buddhism and Hinduism, clearly points to Indian influence. In Buddhism, the swastika is considered a symbol of eternal cycling and infinity, while in Hinduism, it's seen as a mark of auspiciousness and good fortune. The fact that this symbol appears on a seal from a region primarily under Persian influence highlights Afghanistan's role as a dynamic melting pot of diverse cultures and traditions.
 

 

 

 

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 Seal  144 -    26 * 16 * 6 mm



 
 Old Jewish Intaglio in carnelian stone  -

Shema Yisrael: Echod Mashem Elomaynu Mashem Yisroel Shmah
Hear, O Israel: the LORD is our God, the LORD is one


Jewish carnelian amulet with fish and Shema,
Ottoman sphere, attributed 17-18th century

 

This is a fascinating piece! Oval tablet cut from banded carnelian, the face finely engraved with a central fish flanked by rosette-stars and framed by Hebrew inscriptions. The upper register reads an invocation of the Shema (“Hear, O Israel…”), while the lower field carries protective letter-strings typical of early-modern Jewish kame’ot. The cuts are shallow and even, their granular walls retaining traces of a dark inlay/paste long used to make apotropaic texts legible.  The inscription "Shema Yisrael: Echod Mashem Elomaynu Mashem Yisroel Shmah," is a slight variation of the central Jewish prayer, the Shema, which reads "Hear, O Israel: the LORD is our God, the LORD is One" (Deuteronomy 6:4). This prayer has a central place in Jewish worship and is considered a declaration of faith and an affirmation of monotheism.

Profiled as a flat tablet with slightly bevelled edge; the back shows old wheel-lap striations and a soft satin polish, consistent with hand-worked lapidary practice of the 17th century. Warm orange tones with lighter natural bands; scattered chalky residues in recesses and minor edge nibbling from age and wear. No perforation: intended to be set in a silver box, sewn into clothing, carried in a pouch, or kept in the household.  

The fish, widely used in the Levant, Yemen and the Maghreb as a charm against the ayin hara (evil eye), signals blessing, fertility and uninterrupted flow; combined with the Shema, it marks the piece as a devotional protector rather than a sealing gem.


 

This amulet belongs to the early-modern Judaica tradition in which short scriptural lines, above all the Shema and divine names, were paired with potent images (hand, fish, rosette) to form concise, easily carried protectors. Its combination of readable (non-mirror) text, emblematic fish, and tablet form aligns closely with Ottoman-period Jewish folk practice from the 1600s, likely produced in a Levantine, Yemenite, or Maghrebi workshop serving a Hebrew-literate clientele. A compact, eloquent witness to lived devotional use in the Jewish diaspora of the early modern Mediterranean world.
 

 

 

 


 
   

Contact: Gunnar Muhlman - Gunnars@mail.com