Stamp Seal: Walking Lion

This stamp seal features an image of a walking lion. The lion’s body is rendered by three large drilled holes, with the addition of grooves for legs, and smaller drilled holes for the head and paws. There is a palm branch in the field above the lion’s back. A semi-circular chip is missing from one end of the seal. A handful of other seals, all with images of animals, exhibit this same carving technique (1). They are generally thought to be from the eastern Mediterranean and of fourth-century BCE date on stylistic grounds. NOTE 1. J. Boardman, Greek Gems and Finger Rings: Early Bronze Age to Late Classical (London, 1970) 322.