SASANIAN DOG TAG IN GOLD
SASANIAN DOG TAG IN GOLD
SASANIAN DOG TAG IN GOLD
SASANIAN DOG TAG IN GOLD
SASANIAN DOG TAG IN GOLD
SASANIAN DOG TAG IN GOLD SASANIAN DOG TAG IN GOLD SASANIAN DOG TAG IN GOLD SASANIAN DOG TAG IN GOLD SASANIAN DOG TAG IN GOLD

SASANIAN DOG TAG IN GOLD

SASANIAN DOME SEAL (224-651 AD)
£1,450

ORIGINAL ANTIQUITY

ANCIENT · MIDDLE EAST

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1. Portrait

DESCRIPTION

ORIGINAL SASANIAN DOME SEAL (224-651 AD) · This reimagined dog tag combines a 1500 year old Persian seal and its print, cast in 18k gold. Each ancient seal is original, each print is manually stamped.

Military dog tags are modern objects of identity. The ancient Sasanians wore their characteristic seals as wearable signatures, and as decorative jewelry. We have merged both into a masculine expression of timeless elegance.

  • Original Sasanian dome seal in crystal rock

  • Tag in matte 18k gold

  • Seal print stamped by hand

  • Characteristic "dog tag" ball chain in blackened sterling silver

  • Chain length 71cm/28”

  • No clasp

Antiquity
Collection of Sasanian dome seals

SASANIAN DOME SEALS (224-651 AD)

The Sasanian Empire was the last of the three great Persian empires that dominated Western Asia for more than a thousand years:

  • Achaemenid (Persian) Empire (550-330 BC)

  • Parthian Empire (247 BC - 224 AD)

  • Sasanian Empire (224-651 AD)

Personal seals became a mass medium during the Sasanian period, worn by all classes of society. They were used as tools for identity, symbols of personal belief, as well as decorative jewelry.

Sasanian seals are split into two distinct categories of shapes:

  • 70% hemispherical, ellipsoid and conoid stamps

  • 30% flattened ring-stones

The wide variety of stones and colours reflects the abundance of geological sources all over the Iranian plateau: carnelian, chalcedony, jasper, crystal rock,…

Seal depictions fall into three main groups:

  • Male portraits (bearded Persian men)

  • Single animals (lions, rams, antelopes, birds, scorpions)

  • Mythological creatures (griffins, human-headed winged bulls)

Sasanian seals come in a wide range of stones, featuring many different depictions. Here under you find a public reference in crystal rock, together with examples of the three main types of representation:

  • Mythological creatures (winged bull)

  • Male portraits (bearded Persian man)

  • Single animals (bird)

Christie's, 2010
Christie's, 2010
The Met museum, accession number: 62.66.25
The Met museum, accession number: 62.66.25
The Met museum, accession number: 62.66.1
The Met museum, accession number: 62.66.1
The Met museum, accession number: 62.66.10
The Met museum, accession number: 62.66.10

  • K. Duistermaat, On the development of Sasanian seals and sealing practice

  • N. Ritter, Gemstones in pre-Islamic Persia: social and symbolic meanings of Sasanian seals

We acquired a large collection of ancient Western Asian seals at an auction house in Vienna, previously part of the Zelnik Istvan Southeast Asian Gold Museum in Budapest. Closed in 2013, the museum hosted one of the largest private collections of ancient Asian art. Authenticity and origin have been additionally established by V. G. E., an independent licensed antiquities expert.