AN AMAZING COLLECTION OF 101!!! NEAR EAST ANCIENT... Lot n° 1333

Near East, Ancient region of Mesopotamia, 4000 BC-2000 BC or later. The lot consists of stamp and cylinder seals as well as beads made from various materials: stone, carnelian, agate, quarz, black steatite, hematite and others. They all can be associated with rich cultures of the ancient Fertile Crescent region. Characters and figurative scenes are engraved and most of the impressions are still very crisp. All the pieces have a hole and they are thought to have typically been worn on a necklace or around the wrist so that they were always available when needed. Some of them were also pinned to the garment. Engraved stones have been used as early as the seventh millennium B.C. to stamp impressions in clay, the invention in the fourth millennium B.C. of carved cylinders that could be rolled over clay allowed the development of more complex seal designs. These cylinder seals, first used in Mesopotamia, served as a mark of ownership or identification. Stamp seals were mostly used to secure flat clay envelopes which would be broken upon a receipt. Provenance: Estate of Dr. Ernst Eichler (1932-2018), Vienna, Austria. Condition: Good condition commensurate with age. Dimensions: 1.2 cm -4 cm