Stamp Seal: Walking Lion
400-300 BCE
Description
This stamp seal features an image of a walking lion. The lion’s body is rendered by three large drilled holes, with the addition of grooves for legs, and smaller drilled holes for the head and paws. There is a palm branch in the field above the lion’s back. A semi-circular chip is missing from one end of the seal. A handful of other seals, all with images of animals, exhibit this same carving technique (1). They are generally thought to be from the eastern Mediterranean and of fourth-century BCE date on stylistic grounds. NOTE 1. J. Boardman, Greek Gems and Finger Rings: Early Bronze Age to Late Classical (London, 1970) 322.
Dimensions
1.7 x 2.2 x 1.3 cm (11/16 x 7/8 x 1/2 in.)
Provenance
Damon Mezzacappa, gift; to the Harvard Art Museum, 1986.
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