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Oval bezel seal with kufic inscription
- loan
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Details
- Associated place
-
Near East (probable place of creation)
- Date
- 8th - 9th century AD (AD 701 - 900)
- Material and technique
- onyx, cut, bevelled, and incised
- Dimensions
- 0.95 x 1.3 x 0.4 cm (height x width x depth)
- Material index
- Technique index
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cut,
- Object type index
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tool/implement › matrix › seal
- No. of items
- 1
- Credit line
- Lent by the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.
- Accession no.
- LI1008.93
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Further reading
Kalus, Ludvik, Catalogue of Islamic Seals and Talismans (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), no. 1.3.1 on p. 6, pl. I.1.3.1
Glossary
kufic
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kufic
A term denoting various styles of angular Arabic script. Emerged in the early centuries of Islam, kufic soon became the preferred hand to copy holy texts.
Location
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- currently in research collection
Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.
Publications online
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Catalogue of Islamic Seals and Talismans
Onyx in alternating chesnut and white; bezel, bevelled towards the front; oval; back angle slightly cut. One line of kufic script, without dots. A lām-alif beneath.
Ja'far b. Ahmad جعفر بن احمد
Lām-alif لا
The person whose name is inscribed on the seal could be Ja'far b. Aḥmad b. Muḥammad (310-337/922-949) from the dynasty of Banijurids.
The lām-alif has perhaps an esoteric meaning, cf. Assadullah Souren Melikian-Chirvani, 'M.C.A.B.I. XIV. - Les thèmes ésotériques et les thèmes mystiques dan l'art du bronze iranien', in Mélanges H. Corbin, Teheran, 1977, p. 373-5, where the problem of lām-alif on metal objects is discussed. If this hypothesis is right, it would be more correct to include this seal in group I.1.2
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