1.
Renaissance
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The Renaissance was a period in European history, from the 14th to the 17th century, regarded as the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history. It started as a movement in Italy in the Late Medieval period and later spread to the rest of Europe. This new thinking became manifest in art, architecture, politics, science, Early examples were the development of perspective in oil painting and the recycled knowledge of how to make concrete. Although the invention of movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century. In politics, the Renaissance contributed to the development of the customs and conventions of diplomacy, the Renaissance began in Florence, in the 14th century. Other major centres were northern Italian city-states such as Venice, Genoa, Milan, Bologna, the word Renaissance, literally meaning Rebirth in French, first appeared in English in the 1830s. The word also occurs in Jules Michelets 1855 work, Histoire de France, the word Renaissance has also been extended to other historical and cultural movements, such as the Carolingian Renaissance and the Renaissance of the 12th century. The Renaissance was a movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early modern period. Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism, however, a subtle shift took place in the way that intellectuals approached religion that was reflected in many other areas of cultural life. In addition, many Greek Christian works, including the Greek New Testament, were back from Byzantium to Western Europe. Political philosophers, most famously Niccolò Machiavelli, sought to describe life as it really was. Others see more competition between artists and polymaths such as Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Donatello, and Masaccio for artistic commissions as sparking the creativity of the Renaissance. Yet it remains much debated why the Renaissance began in Italy, accordingly, several theories have been put forward to explain its origins. During the Renaissance, money and art went hand in hand, Artists depended entirely on patrons while the patrons needed money to foster artistic talent. Wealth was brought to Italy in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries by expanding trade into Asia, silver mining in Tyrol increased the flow of money. Luxuries from the Eastern world, brought home during the Crusades, increased the prosperity of Genoa, unlike with Latin texts, which had been preserved and studied in Western Europe since late antiquity, the study of ancient Greek texts was very limited in medieval Western Europe. One of the greatest achievements of Renaissance scholars was to bring this entire class of Greek cultural works back into Western Europe for the first time since late antiquity, Arab logicians had inherited Greek ideas after they had invaded and conquered Egypt and the Levant. Their translations and commentaries on these ideas worked their way through the Arab West into Spain and Sicily and this work of translation from Islamic culture, though largely unplanned and disorganized, constituted one of the greatest transmissions of ideas in history
2.
Stone carving
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Stone carving is an activity where pieces of rough natural stone are shaped by the controlled removal of stone. Owing to the permanence of the material, stone work has survived which was created during our prehistory, work carried out by paleolithic societies to create flint tools is more often referred to as knapping. Stone carving that is done to produce lettering is often referred to as lettering. The process of removing stone from the earth is called mining or quarrying, stone carving is one of the processes which may be used by an artist when creating a sculpture. The term also refers to the activity of masons in dressing stone blocks for use in architecture and it is also a phrase used by archaeologists, historians, and anthropologists to describe the activity involved in making some types of petroglyphs. The earliest known works of art are stone carvings. Often marks carved into rock or petroglyphs will survive where painted work will not, prehistoric Venus figurines such as the Venus of Berekhat Ram may be as old as 800,000 years, and are carved in stones such as tuff and limestone. Another early technique was to use an abrasive that was rubbed on the stone to remove the unwanted area, prior to the discovery of steel by any culture, all stone carving was carried out by using an abrasion technique, following rough hewing of the stone block using hammers. The reason for this is that bronze, the hardest available metal until steel, is not hard enough to work any but the softest stone. The Ancient Greeks used the ductility of bronze to trap small granules of carborundum, carving tools have changed little since then. One modern stone carving technique uses a new process, The technique of applying sudden high temperature to the surface, the expansion of the top surface due to the sudden increase in temperature causes it to break away. On a small scale, Oxy-acetylene torches are used, on an industrial scale, lasers are used. Carving stone into sculpture is an activity older than civilization itself, prehistoric sculptures were usually human forms, such as the Venus of Willendorf and the faceless statues of the Cycladic cultures of ancient Greece. Later cultures devised animal, human-animal and abstract forms in stone, the earliest cultures used abrasive techniques, and modern technology employs pneumatic hammers and other devices. But for most of history, sculptors used hammer and chisel as the basic tools for carving stone. The process begins with the selection of a stone for carving, some artists use the stone itself as inspiration, the Renaissance artist Michelangelo claimed that his job was to free the human form trapped inside the block. Other artists begin with an already in mind and find a stone to complement their vision. The sculptor may begin by forming a model in clay or wax, when ready to carve, the artist usually begins by knocking off large portions of unwanted stone
3.
Engraved gem
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An engraved gem is a small gemstone, usually semi-precious, that has been carved, in the Western tradition normally with images or inscriptions only on one face. The engraving of gemstones was a luxury art form in the ancient world. Strictly speaking, engraving means carving in intaglio, but relief carvings are covered by the term. This article uses cameo in its sense, to denote a carving exploiting layers of differently coloured stone. The activity is also called gem carving, and the artists gem-cutters, vessels like the Cup of the Ptolemies and heads or figures carved in the round are also known as hardstone carvings and similar terms. Glyptics, or glyptic art, covers the field of small carved stones, including seals and inscriptions. A finely carved seal was practical, as it made more difficult – the distinctive personal signature did not really exist in antiquity. Gems were mostly cut by using abrasive powder from harder stones in conjunction with a hand-drill, emery has been mined for abrasive powder on Naxos since antiquity. Some early types of seal were cut by hand, rather than a drill, there is no evidence that magnifying lenses were used by gem cutters in antiquity. A medieval guide to gem-carving techniques survives from Theophilus Presbyter, byzantine cutters used a flat-edged wheel on a drill for intaglio work, while Carolingian ones used round-tipped drills, it is unclear where they learnt this technique from. In intaglio gems at least, the cut surface is usually very well preserved. The colour of several gemstones can be enhanced by a number of methods, using heat, sugar. Many of these can be shown to have used since antiquity – since the 7th millennium BC in the case of heating. The technique has an ancient tradition in the Near East, and is represented in all or most early cultures from the area, and these were made in various types of stone, not all hardstone. The Greek tradition emerged in Ancient Greek art under Minoan influence on mainland Helladic culture, pre-Hellenic Ancient Egyptian seals tend to have inscriptions in hieroglyphs rather than images. The Biblical Book of Exodus describes the form of the hoshen, round or oval Greek gems are found from the 8th and 7th centuries BC, usually with animals in energetic geometric poses, often with a border marked by dots or a rim. Early examples are mostly in softer stones, Gems of the 6th century are more often oval, with a scarab back, and human or divine figures as well as animals, the scarab form was apparently adopted from Phoenicia. The forms are sophisticated for the period, despite the small size of the gems
4.
Jewellery
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Jewellery or jewelry consists of small decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes, for many centuries metal, often combined with gemstones, has been the normal material for jewellery, but other materials such as shells and other plant materials may be used. It is one of the oldest type of archaeological artefact – with 100, historically, the most widespread influence on jewellery in terms of design and style have come from Asia. Jewellery may be made from a range of materials. Gemstones and similar such as amber and coral, precious metals, beads, and shells have been widely used. In most cultures jewellery can be understood as a symbol, for its material properties, its patterns. Jewellery has been made to nearly every body part, from hairpins to toe rings. The word jewellery itself is derived from the jewel, which was anglicised from the Old French jouel. In British English, Indian English, New Zealand English, Hiberno-English, Australian English, both are used in Canadian English, though jewelry prevails by a two to one margin. Numerous cultures store wedding dowries in the form of jewellery or make jewellery as a means to store or display coins, alternatively, jewellery has been used as a currency or trade good, an example being the use of slave beads. Many items of jewellery, such as brooches and buckles, originated as functional items. Jewellery can also symbolise group membership or status, wearing of amulets and devotional medals to provide protection or ward off evil is common in some cultures. These may take the form of symbols, stones, plants, animals, body parts, in creating jewellery, gemstones, coins, or other precious items are often used, and they are typically set into precious metals. Alloys of nearly every metal known have been encountered in jewellery, bronze, for example, was common in Roman times. Modern fine jewellery usually includes gold, white gold, platinum, palladium, titanium, most contemporary gold jewellery is made of an alloy of gold, the purity of which is stated in karats, indicated by a number followed by the letter K. American gold jewellery must be of at least 10K purity, many whimsical fashions were introduced in the extravagant eighteenth century. Cameos that were used in connection with jewellery were the attractive trinkets along with many of the objects such as brooches, ear-rings. Some of the necklets were made of pieces joined with the gold chains were in and bracelets were also made sometimes to match the necklet
5.
Relief
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Relief is a sculptural technique where the sculpted elements remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term relief is from the Latin verb relevo, to raise, to create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane. What is actually performed when a relief is cut in from a surface of stone or wood is a lowering of the field. The technique involves considerable chiselling away of the background, which is a time-consuming exercise. In other materials such as metal, clay, plaster stucco, ceramics or papier-mâché the form can be just added to or raised up from the background, and monumental bronze reliefs are made by casting. There are different degrees of relief depending on the degree of projection of the form from the field. There is also sunk relief, which was restricted to Ancient Egypt. However the distinction between high relief and low relief is the clearest and most important, and these two are generally the only used to discuss most work. Hyphens may or may not be used in all these terms, works in the technique are described as in relief, and, especially in monumental sculpture, the work itself is a relief. Reliefs are common throughout the world on the walls of buildings and a variety of settings. Relief is more suitable for depicting complicated subjects with figures and very active poses, such as battles. Most ancient architectural reliefs were painted, which helped to define forms in low relief. Rock reliefs are carved into solid rock in the open air. This type is found in cultures, in particular those of the Ancient Near East and Buddhist countries. A stele is a standing stone, many of these carry reliefs. The distinction between high and low relief is somewhat subjective, and the two are often combined in a single work. In particular, most later high reliefs contain sections in low relief, a low relief or bas-relief is a projecting image with a shallow overall depth, for example used on coins, on which all images are in low relief. Other versions distort depth much less and it is a technique which requires less work, and is therefore cheaper to produce, as less of the background needs to be removed in a carving, or less modelling is required
6.
Gemstone
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A gemstone is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks or organic materials that are not minerals are used for jewelry and are therefore often considered to be gemstones as well. Most gemstones are hard, but some soft minerals are used in jewelry because of their luster or other properties that have aesthetic value. Rarity is another characteristic that lends value to a gemstone, apart from jewelry, from earliest antiquity engraved gems and hardstone carvings, such as cups, were major luxury art forms. A gem maker is called a lapidary or gemcutter, a worker is a diamantaire. The carvings of Carl Fabergé are significant works in this tradition, the traditional classification in the West, which goes back to the ancient Greeks, begins with a distinction between precious and semi-precious, similar distinctions are made in other cultures. In modern usage the precious stones are diamond, ruby, sapphire, other stones are classified by their color, translucency and hardness. Another unscientific term for semi-precious gemstones used in art history and archaeology is hardstone, in modern times gemstones are identified by gemologists, who describe gems and their characteristics using technical terminology specific to the field of gemology. The first characteristic a gemologist uses to identify a gemstone is its chemical composition, for example, diamonds are made of carbon and rubies of aluminium oxide. Next, many gems are crystals which are classified by their crystal system such as cubic or trigonal or monoclinic, another term used is habit, the form the gem is usually found in. For example, diamonds, which have a crystal system, are often found as octahedrons. Gemstones are classified into different groups, species, and varieties, for example, ruby is the red variety of the species corundum, while any other color of corundum is considered sapphire. Other examples are the Emerald, aquamarine, red beryl, goshenite, heliodor, and morganite, gems are characterized in terms of refractive index, dispersion, specific gravity, hardness, cleavage, fracture, and luster. They may exhibit pleochroism or double refraction and they may have luminescence and a distinctive absorption spectrum. Material or flaws within a stone may be present as inclusions, gemstones may also be classified in terms of their water. This is a grading of the gems luster, transparency. Very transparent gems are considered first water, while second or third water gems are those of a lesser transparency, there is no universally accepted grading system for gemstones. Diamonds are graded using a system developed by the Gemological Institute of America in the early 1950s, historically, all gemstones were graded using the naked eye
7.
Onyx
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Onyx is a banded variety of the oxide mineral chalcedony. Agate and onyx are both varieties of layered chalcedony that differ only in the form of the bands, agate has curved bands, the colors of its bands range from white to almost every color. Commonly, specimens of onyx contain bands of black and/or white, onyx comes through Latin, from the Greek ὄνυξ, meaning claw or fingernail. With its fleshtone color, onyx can be said to resemble a fingernail, the English word nail is cognate with the Greek word. Onyx is formed of bands of chalcedony in alternating colors and it is cryptocrystalline, consisting of fine intergrowths of the silica minerals quartz and moganite. Its bands are parallel to one another, as opposed to the more chaotic banding that often occurs in agates, sardonyx is a variant in which the colored bands are sard rather than black. Black onyx is perhaps the most famous variety, but is not as common as onyx with colored bands, artificial treatments have been used since ancient times to produce both the black color in black onyx and the reds and yellows in sardonyx. Most black onyx on the market is artificially colored, the name has sometimes been used, incorrectly, to label other banded lapidary materials, such as banded calcite found in Mexico, Pakistan, and other places, and often carved, polished and sold. This material is softer than true onyx, and much more readily available. The majority of carved items sold as onyx today are this carbonate material, artificial onyx types have also been produced from common chalcedony and plain agates. The first-century naturalist Pliny the Elder described these techniques being used in Roman times and these techniques are still used, as well as other dyeing treatments, and most so-called black onyx sold is artificially treated. In addition to dye treatments, heating and treatment with nitric acid have been used to lighten or eliminate undesirable colors and it has a long history of use for hardstone carving and jewelry, where it is usually cut as a cabochon or into beads. It has also used for intaglio and hardstone cameo engraved gems. Some onyx is natural but much of the material in commerce is produced by the staining of agate, onyx was used in Egypt as early as the Second Dynasty to make bowls and other pottery items. Use of sardonyx appears in the art of Minoan Crete, notably from the archaeological recoveries at Knossos, Brazilian green onyx was often used as plinths for art deco sculptures created in the 1920s and 1930s. The German sculptor Ferdinand Preiss used Brazilian green onyx for the base on the majority of his chryselephantine sculptures, green onyx was also used for trays and pin dishes – produced mainly in Austria – often with small bronze animals or figures attached. Onyx is mentioned in the Bible many times, sardonyx is mentioned in the Bible as well. Onyx was known to the Ancient Greeks and Romans, the first-century naturalist Pliny the Elder described both type of onyx and various artificial treatment techniques in his Naturalis Historia
8.
Agate
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Agate /ˈæɡət/ is a cryptocrystalline variety of silica, chiefly chalcedony, characterised by its fineness of grain and brightness of color. Although agates may be found in various kinds of rock, they are associated with volcanic rocks. Colorful agates and other chalcedonies were obtained over 3,000 years ago from the Achates River, Agate has also been known to fill veins or cracks in volcanic or altered rock underlain by granitic intrusive masses. Such agates, when cut transversely, exhibit a succession of lines, often of extreme tenuity. Such stones are known as banded agate, riband agate and striped agate, perhaps the most comprehensive review of agate chemistry is a recent text by Moxon cited below. This green silicate may give rise by alteration to a iron oxide. The outer surface of an agate, freed from its matrix, is pitted and rough. The first layer spread over the wall of the cavity has been called the priming, when the matrix in which the agates are embedded disintegrates, they are set free. The agates are extremely resistant to weathering and remain as nodules in the soil, or are deposited as gravel in streams, a Mexican agate, showing only a single eye, has received the name of cyclops agate. Dendritic agates have fern like patterns in them formed due to the presence of manganese, other types of included matter deposited during agate-building include sagenitic growths and chunks of entrapped detritus. Occasionally agate fills a void left by decomposed vegetative material such as a limb or root and is called limb cast agate due to its appearance. Enhydro agate contains tiny inclusions of water, sometimes with air bubbles, turritella agate is formed from silicified fossil Elimia tenera shells. E. tenera are spiral freshwater gastropods having elongated, spiral shells composed of many whorls, similarly, coral, petrified wood and other organic remains or porous rocks can also become agatized. Agatized coral is often referred to as Petoskey stone or agate, greek agate is a name given to pale white to tan colored agate found in Sicily back to 400 BC. The Greeks used it for making jewelry and beads, brazilian agate is found as sizable geodes of layered nodules. These occur in brownish tones interlayered with white and gray, quartz forms within these nodules, creating a striking specimen when cut opposite the layered growth axis. It is often dyed in various colors for ornamental purposes, certain stones, when examined in thin sections by transmitted light, show a diffraction spectrum due to the extreme delicacy of the successive bands, whence they are termed rainbow agates. Often agate coexists with layers or masses of opal, jasper or crystalline quartz due to ambient variations during the formation process, lace agate is a variety that exhibits a lace-like pattern with forms such as eyes, swirls, bands or zigzags
9.
Mollusc shell
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Not all shelled molluscs live in the sea, many live on the land and in freshwater. Within some species of molluscs, there is often a degree of variation in the exact shape, pattern, ornamentation. A mollusc shell is formed, repaired and maintained by a part of the called the mantle. Any injuries to or abnormal conditions of the mantle are reflected in the shape and form. When the animal encounters harsh conditions that limit its food supply, or otherwise cause it to become dormant for a while, when conditions improve again and the mantle resumes its task, a growth line is produced. The mantle edge secretes a shell which has two components, the shell formation requires certain biological machinery. This caps off the space, which is bounded on its other surfaces by the existing shell. The accumulation of ions is driven by ion pumps packed within the calcifying epithelium, the organic matrix forms the scaffold that directs crystallization, and the deposition and rate of crystals is also controlled by hormones produced by the mollusc. Nucleation is endoepithelial in Neopilina and Nautilus, but exoepithelial in the bivalves, the formation of the shell involves a number of genes and transcription factors. On the whole, the factors and signalling genes are deeply conserved. Engrailed serves to demark the edge of the field, dpp controls the shape of the shell. In gastropod embryos, Hox1 is expressed where the shell is being accreted, perlucin operates in association with Perlustrin, a smaller relative of lustrin A, a protein responsible for the elasticity of organic layers that makes nacre so resistant to cracking. Lustrin A bears remarkable structural similarity to the involved in mineralization in diatoms – even though diatoms use silica, not calcite. The shell at another first giant clam, the characterizations of the second elasticity sheels. The second responsibles id makes by commons however no association has been observed between Hox genes and cephalopod shell formation, a wide range of enzymes are expressed during the formation of the shell, including carbonic anhydrase, alkaline phosphatase, and DOPA-oxidase /peroxidase. The shell-secreting area is differentiated very early in embryonic development, an area of the ectoderm thickens, then invaginates to become a shell gland. The gland subsequently evaginates in molluscs that produce an external shell, a wide range of enzymes are expressed during the formation of the shell, including carbonic anhydrase, alkaline phosphatase, and DOPA-oxidase /peroxidase. The form of the shell is constrained by the organisms ecology
10.
Glass
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Glass is a non-crystalline amorphous solid that is often transparent and has widespread practical, technological, and decorative usage in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optoelectronics. The most familiar, and historically the oldest, types of glass are silicate glasses based on the chemical compound silica, the primary constituent of sand. The term glass, in usage, is often used to refer only to this type of material. Many applications of silicate glasses derive from their optical transparency, giving rise to their use as window panes. Glass can be coloured by adding metallic salts, and can also be painted and printed with vitreous enamels and these qualities have led to the extensive use of glass in the manufacture of art objects and in particular, stained glass windows. Although brittle, silicate glass is extremely durable, and many examples of glass fragments exist from early glass-making cultures, because glass can be formed or moulded into any shape, it has been traditionally used for vessels, bowls, vases, bottles, jars and drinking glasses. In its most solid forms it has also used for paperweights, marbles. Some objects historically were so commonly made of glass that they are simply called by the name of the material, such as drinking glasses. Porcelains and many polymer thermoplastics familiar from everyday use are glasses and these sorts of glasses can be made of quite different kinds of materials than silica, metallic alloys, ionic melts, aqueous solutions, molecular liquids, and polymers. For many applications, like glass bottles or eyewear, polymer glasses are a lighter alternative than traditional glass, silica is a common fundamental constituent of glass. In nature, vitrification of quartz occurs when lightning strikes sand, forming hollow, fused quartz is a glass made from chemically-pure SiO2. It has excellent resistance to shock, being able to survive immersion in water while red hot. However, its high melting-temperature and viscosity make it difficult to work with, normally, other substances are added to simplify processing. One is sodium carbonate, which lowers the transition temperature. The soda makes the glass water-soluble, which is undesirable, so lime, some magnesium oxide. The resulting glass contains about 70 to 74% silica by weight and is called a soda-lime glass, soda-lime glasses account for about 90% of manufactured glass. Most common glass contains other ingredients to change its properties, lead glass or flint glass is more brilliant because the increased refractive index causes noticeably more specular reflection and increased optical dispersion. Adding barium also increases the refractive index, iron can be incorporated into glass to absorb infrared energy, for example in heat absorbing filters for movie projectors, while cerium oxide can be used for glass that absorbs UV wavelengths
11.
Cameo glass
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Glass allowed consistent and predictable colored layers, even for round objects. From the mid-19th century there was a revival of cameo glass, suited equally to Neo-Grec taste and the French Art Nouveau practiced by Émile Gallé, only about 200 fragments and 15 complete objects of early Roman cameo glass survive. The best and most famous example of these, and also among the best preserved, is the Portland Vase in the British Museum, other fine examples, such as the Morgan Cup, are drinking cups. Both of these named pieces show complex multi-figured mythological scenes, whose iconography has been much debated, the Getty Villa has another cup, and a perfume bottle with scenes of Egyptian deities, apparently an early instance of Orientalism. The latter period also saw a brief revival of the art of gem-carving. All these dates are tentative, and it is possible that smaller gem-like pieces of cameo glass continued to be produced between these periods. Glass from the period is even rarer than from the earlier, with only a handful of complete pieces known. Its use was restricted to the elite, the Portland Vase is said to have been excavated from the tomb of the Emperor Septimius Severus. In the early period usually all layers are opaque, by contrast, in the later period, there is a translucent colored overlay over a virtually colorless background, perhaps imitating rock crystal. The surface of the top layer elements is flat rather than carved as in the group of pieces. The technique was used in Islamic art in the 9th and 10th centuries, but then lost until the 18th century in Europe, like Wedgwoods designers, they usually worked in a more or less neoclassical style. The French medalist Alphonse Eugène Lecheverel, whose work for Richardsons was exhibited in Paris in 1878, outstanding English cameo glass artisans were Philip Pargeter and John Northwood, who first successfully reproduced the Portland Vase in cameo glass. Cameo glass, roughed out by the process provided a popular substitute for genuine cameos in brooches and plaques and similar uses. Cameo glass Louis Comfort Tiffany made only a number of cameo pieces. The detailed work is then done with wheels and drills, before finishing, in the case of three-layer cameo, there is another layer of glass on top of the white opaque one, and further layers are possible. One Roman piece uses a record six layers and it is not known where the Roman pieces were produced, but for want of any better suggestion most scholars think in the capital itself. It appears likely that at least the making of the blanks was initially in the hands of imported Syrian glass-workers, hugh Honour and John Fleming, A World History of Art,1982 & revised eds, Macmillan, London Lightfoot, Christopher. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, new York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–
12.
Seal (emblem)
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A seal is a device for making an impression in wax, clay, paper, or some other medium, including an embossment on paper, and is also the impression thus made. The original purpose was to authenticate a document, a wrapper for one such as a modern envelope, the seal-making device is also referred to as the seal matrix or die, the imprint it creates as the seal impression. In most traditional forms of dry seal the design on the matrix is in intaglio. The design on the impression will reverse that of the matrix and this will not be the case if paper is embossed from behind, where the matrix and impression read the same way, and both matrix and impression are in relief. However engraved gems were carved in relief, called cameo in this context. The process is essentially that of a mould and these pendent seal impressions dangled below the documents they authenticated, to which the attachment tag was sewn or otherwise attached. Some jurisdictions consider rubber stamps or specified signature-accompanying words such as seal or L. S. to be the equivalent of, i. e. an equally effective substitute for. In Europe, although coats of arms and heraldic badges may well feature in such contexts as well as on seals, the study of seals is known as sigillography or sphragistics. Seals were used in the earliest civilizations and are of importance in archaeology. In ancient Mesopotamia carved or engraved cylinder seals in stone or other materials were used and these could be rolled along to create an impression on clay, and used as labels on consignments of trade goods, or for other purposes. They are normally hollow and it is presumed that they were worn on a string or chain round the neck, many have only images, often very finely carved, with no writing, while others have both. From Ancient Egypt seals in the form of signet-rings, including some with the names of kings, have been found, recently, seals have come to light in South Arabia datable to the Himyarite age. One example shows a name written in Aramaic engraved in reverse so as to read correctly in the impression, from the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC until the Middle Ages, seals of various kinds were in production in the Aegean islands and mainland Greece. In the Early Minoan age these were formed of stone and ivory. By the Middle Minoan age a new set for seal forms, motifs, hard stone requires new rotary carving techniques. The Late Bronze Age is the par excellence of the lens-shaped seal and the seal ring. These were a luxury art form and became keenly collected. His collection fell as booty to Pompey the Great, who deposited it in a temple in Rome, engraved gems continued to be produced and collected until the 19th century
