Cylinder Seal with Antelopes, Eagles and a Palmette Tree
Unknown · Late Cypriot II, perhaps fourteenth century BC
Less than two centimetres high and cut from dark, heavy haematite, this cylinder seal was rolled to produce a miniature hunting scene. Two antelopes face each other on either side of a stylised tree with palmette leaves, and two eagles swoop down on them from above. A single sign of the Cypro-Minoan script is engraved in the field. Study the impression next to the seal to see how the engraver balanced the composition, the symmetrical animals framing the tree while the birds break the calm with their attack.
The seal was found in tomb one at Sinda, in eastern Cyprus, and purchased by the Louvre in nineteen twelve. The museum dates it to the Late Cypriot II period, possibly the fourteenth century BC, when the island was at the crossroads of the Aegean, the Levant and Egypt. The tree flanked by animals is an old Near Eastern motif, but its treatment here, with the birds of prey and the crisp cutting in hard stone, is typical of Cypriot workshops. Haematite was prized for seals because it takes fine detail and resists wear over a lifetime of use.
Did You Know? Haematite was the seal cutter's favourite stone across the Bronze Age Near East because it is hard enough to keep its fine lines after thousands of rollings.
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