Stamp seal with quadruped

Stamp seal with quadruped, 4500–3600 b.c.; Ubaid–Middle Gawra period
Syro/Cilicia or Anatolia
Chlorite

1.24 x 1.16 in. (3.16 x 2.96 cm)
Bequest of Lester Wolfe, 1984 (1984.175.15)

During the Neolithic period (ca. 7000 B.C.), stamp seals are known from northern Iraq, northern Syria, and southeastern Anatolia. These pendants were carved with designs that probably combined a glyptic and an amuletic role and are of simple, mostly geometric forms. This seal demonstrates the development in the Ubaid period of seals depicting animals. A quadruped with an elongated body faces left. Above the animal are two joined arcs over which may be an inverted horned animal's head. A branching form beneath the quadruped may represent vegetation.

Met Museum
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