14 * 9 mm

 

 

   19 * 16,5 * 11,5 mm

 

  16 * 14 * 9 mm

Fire Alter with a Star

   

 14,5 * 12 * 10,5 mm

   

  19,5 * 16,5 * 15,5  mm

  10 * 7,5 mm
 

 

  13 * 11 * 10,5 mm

 

  17 * 13 * 8 mm

    

  15 * 12 * 7 mm

   
15
15 * 12,5  * 7  mm

15 * 13 * 10,5  mm
 
 

 13  * 11   * 10,5  mm

 

  15 * 12,5   * 9  mm

 

  19 * 15,5   * 14  mm

 

 22  * 19   * 15  mm

   12 *  9,5  * 9,5  mm

 

10,5   * 8,5  mm
 
 

 16  * 13   * 13  mm

 

  *    *   mm
 

 116  * 11 mm

Sasanian Chalcedony Seal Bead with Frontal Lion

This Sasanian seal bead, carved from pale translucent chalcedony, presents a lion in one of the most forceful modes of late antique Persian glyptic: not merely in motion, but confronting the viewer. The bead is shaped in a rounded tabloid form and pierced laterally for suspension, identifying it as a wearable seal amulet: an object intended to accompany the body while also serving as a practical sign of identity and authority. The stone’s soft inner glow and smooth, even polish give the engraving a calm surface from which the image emerges with concentrated strength.

The lion is rendered in a compact and highly controlled design. Its head is shown en face, or nearly so, creating an immediate and commanding presence. The broad facial plane, open mouth, and compressed body give the creature a heraldic quality rather than a naturalistic one. Short engraved cuts define the mane and upper body, while the tail curves outward in a stylized flourish. The result is an image reduced to essentials, yet fully alive with tension and force.

In the Iranian world, the lion was an animal of rank, vigilance, and contained power. On a seal bead such as this, it becomes more than ornament. It is a sign of presence, carried on the person and impressed into clay as an extension of the owner’s identity.

 

 20,5  * 16,5  * 12  mm


 

 15  * 12  * 9,5  mm
 

 

 12,5  * 9,5  mm

 

 

 14  * 12  * 10  mm

 

 
 
    14  *  13 * 8,5 mm

 

 18  * 14  * 11,5  mm

 

  
 17  * 15  * 11  mm


 

 

  14 *  13  * 9  mm
 

 
 12  * 10,5  mm
 

 13 * 11  * 9,5  mm
 

 
 16,5 * 8,5 *  mm
 

13 * 9,5 *  mm

Sasanian Green Jasper Seal Bead with Running Horned Animal

This Sasanian seal bead, carved from dark green jasper, preserves a vivid image of animal motion in the compact and disciplined language of late antique Persian glyptic. Its rounded tabloid form, pierced laterally for suspension, identifies it as a wearable seal amulet: an object meant to accompany the body while also serving as a personal mark of identity and authority. The stone has a dense, mineral-rich surface and a subdued polish that gives the engraving weight and gravity.
 
The seal face depicts a horned animal in swift lateral movement, most plausibly a ram or wild sheep. The body is compressed into a powerful oval mass, while the legs extend in rhythmic angular strokes that convey speed and tension. At the front, the head projects with alert force, and the curved horn or horned crest gives the creature its essential identity. The engraver has reduced the animal to a few decisive forms, yet the sense of motion is unmistakable. This is not a passive creature at rest, but one caught in the charged instant of running.
 
In the Iranian world, horned animals carried meanings of vitality, mountain strength, virility, and untamed natural power. On a seal bead such as this, the image becomes more than ornament. It is a sign of force held in disciplined form, carried on the body and impressed into clay as an extension of the owner’s presence.

11,5 * 10 *  mm

Sasanian Green Jasper Seal Bead with Running Hare

This Sasanian seal bead, carved from dark green jasper, preserves a wonderfully lively image in the compact and disciplined language of late antique Persian glyptic. Its rounded tabloid form, pierced laterally for suspension, identifies it as a wearable seal amulet:an object intended to rest against the body while also serving as a personal sign of identity and authority. The stone itself has a dense, mineral-rich presence, its dark green surface polished to a muted sheen that gives the engraving depth and gravity.

The seal face depicts a running hare, reduced to a few incisive forms yet instantly legible. The long upright ears define the animal at once, while the compact body and extended limbs create a vivid sense of movement. This is no creature at rest. It is caught in the quick, tense moment of flight, its whole body gathered into speed. The engraver has used great economy, but the result is remarkably alive: alert, agile, and full of contained energy.

In the Iranian world, the hare could carry associations of swiftness, vitality, watchfulness, and the quick pulse of untamed life. On a seal bead such as this, the image becomes more than ornament. It is a sign of mobile force, carried on the person and impressed into clay as an extension of the owner’s presence.

Small in scale yet full of animation, this bead preserves a particularly graceful aspect of Sasanian art: the ability to distill the life of an animal into a few exact and enduring cuts.
 

 

11 * 9 *  mm

 

19 * 17,5 * 8,5  mm

15,5 * 14  * 13,5  mm

15 * 13,5 * 12  mm

 


   12 *  10 * 7,5  mm
 
 

  



   12,5 * 11  * 8  mm
 
 

 
  13 *  11,5 * 10,5  mm
 

 

   13 *  11,5 * 10,5  mm
 

 

  14 *  12 * 10  mm
 

   

   15 * 13  * 10  mm

 

   18,5 * 16,5  * 10  mm
 
 

 

   18 * 15  * 14,5  mm
 
 

   14,4 *  13 *  10 mm
 

 

   16,5 *  14 * 11,5  mm

 

   


  20,5  * 17  * 13,5  mm
 
 
 

 
    26  *  22 * 23  mm

 Sasanian Chalcedony Seal Bead with Geometric Cultic Cosmogram

This substantial Sasanian seal bead, carved from pale chalcedony, preserves a striking example of late antique Iranian sacred geometry translated into wearable form. Its large rounded tabloid body, pierced laterally for suspension, identifies it as a seal amulet intended to be carried on the body while also serving as a personal mark of identity and authority. The stone itself is beautifully chosen: softly translucent, milky white, and quietly luminous, with a settled surface that gives the bead both gravity and calm.

The engraved face presents a dense geometric composition built around a central arched form, framed by strong horizontal lines and surrounded by angular, branching, and radiating devices. Beneath the arch appears a rosette-like star enclosed within a lower register, while the upper field opens into a fan of emanating strokes. The design is not decorative in the ordinary sense. It reads as a deliberate cultic cosmogram: part shrine, part astral diagram, part ritual enclosure. The arched center suggests a sanctified interior, gate, or altar-front, while the rosette below evokes celestial order, radiant force, and the structured power of the heavens. The surrounding lines complete the field, giving the image the character of a sacred system rather than an isolated sign.

Such imagery belongs to the religious imagination of Sasanian Iran, where seals could compress theology, protection, and identity into a single engraved surface. This bead does not narrate; it orders. It presents sacred space itself in miniature—an emblem of enclosure, radiance, and divine arrangement: cut with the disciplined economy that gives Sasanian glyptic its enduring authority.
 
 

    21  *  19 * 9,5  mm
 
 

    22,5  *  14 * 14 mm
 
 

    14  *  13 * 6 mm

 

 
 
  16 * 15 * 12 mm