Getty Museum

Carved seal

Date

2300–2000 B.C.

Medium

Ivory or bone

Culture

Greek (Minoan)

Department

Jewelry

Institution

Getty Museum

This seal is carved in the form of a crouching monkey. A roughly oval base is engraved with cross-hatching. Minoan craftsmen carved seals from stone, ivory, and other precious materials. When pressed into soft clay or wax, the engraved seals produced relief images. Such impressions were employed as signatures on documents, and to seal pots and other containers as a way to guarantee or label their contents. Simple designs decorated the earliest seals, while later examples show detailed pictorial compositions. Although stones found locally, such as hematite, carnelian, steatite, agate, and jasper were commonly used, seals were also produced from exotic materials, such as amethyst, lapis lazuli, and hippopotamus ivory.

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