| Original Message: Re: Weekend Show & Tell |
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The ring is absolutely beautiful, as is most of your work. So I wish I could help more than I can. Maybe my thoughts as I first looked at the seal will help somehow. Long, long ago and far, far away I did a graduate paper on early Near Eastern cylinder (not stamp) seals. The main thing I was looking at then was the central hero figure (or Gilgamesh, or god, or goddess) flanked by two rampant beasts. So no help here. But I did look at a lot of seals. So many that my major professor made me a gift of one. And although it's been a long time, I have a sense that your seal IS Near Eastern, and perhaps pretty old: No figures, no obvious cuneiform, so more probable from a temple? (as opposed to a business or merchant/trader. Or government official.) The crescent moon, the most prominant component of the design, is used to represent the moon god Nanna as long ago as the city-state of Ur. Pretty often it's shown with a star representing the sun god . . . looks like you might have star-like things in the bottom half of the seal. I'll see if a photo of an early crescent moon (and star) will post. If so, it's from about 2100 BCE. And this is so far out on a limb I'm actually falling as we speak, so please forget it the minute you read it: in your seal we have the crescent moon, a star (the sun), a figure at the bottom that might be interpreted as a comet -- from what I can see -- and, on the left, the 7 circular depressions -- the Pleiades? Maybe I have a fever. I'll stop now. Anyhow -- a way for you to go! All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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