bezel

Please enable JavaScript in your web browser to get the best experience.

Object Type
Museum number: 120304
Description: Brown and bluish agate bezel; oval; cameo cut; engraved; shows eagle grasping snake, (possibly a symbol of the South Arabian god Nasr); above a sun and a moon; South Arabian inscription around the face.
Cultures/periods
Production date: 2ndC-3rdC; 8thC (Kufic inscription)
Production place: Made in: Yemen
Materials
Technique
Dimensions: Length: 1.70 centimetres; Width: 1.20 centimetres
$Inscriptions
Bibliographic references: Birch S & Franks A W 1863a / Inscriptions in the Himyaritic character, now deposited in the British Museum, chiefly discovered in Southern Arabia (pl. XVIII, no. 42); Grohmann A 1963a / Arabien (p.235); Walker J 1962a / A South Arabian gem with Sabaean and Kufic legends (see for additional references); Jamme 1971a / Miscellanees d'ancient arabe II (p.39, 41); Kitchen 2000a / Documentation for Ancient Arabia (pp. 32, 35); Pickworth D 1998a / Stamp Seals of the Ancient Yemen (pp. 368 = Pickworth 170); Barnett 1970b / Another deity with dolphins. (pp.329, fig. 2); Grohmann A 1914 / Göttersymbole und Symboltiere auf südarabischen Denkmälern (pp. 39f, fig. 91); Osiander E 1865 / Zur himjarischen Alterthumskunde (pp. 293, pl. 35e); Halévy J 1874 / Études sabéennes (pp. 537, no.42); Porter 2011 / Arabic and Persian Seals and Amulets in the British Museum (367); Collon 1997a / 7000 Years of Seals (11/3)
Location: On display (G42/dc16)
Exhibition history: Exhibited: 1997-2005 Aug-16 Dec, BM, G51/PSA/3 1976-1997 BM, West Stairs: South Arabian Landing [SAL], wall-case 2 [WC2] 1953 31 Jan, BM, Coins & Medals (loan recorded in WAA Transfer book).
Subjects: bird; reptile; sun/moon
Previous owner
Acquisition date: 1854
Acquisition notes: File card: "acquired with a collection formed by Captain [Felix] Jones". According to Walker 1962 the seal was probably found in Babylonia
Department: Middle East
BM/Big number: 120304
Registration number: 1854,0401.23
Additional IDs: Miscellaneous number: CIH 736; Miscellaneous number: RES 2699 (siglum); Miscellaneous number: SOC.81 (Semitic Old Collection registration number)

Free entry

Opening hours