Near Eastern Old Syrian Popular Style Cylinder Seals Design Composition Characteristics

Near Eastern Old Syrian Popular Style Cylinder Seals Design Composition Characteristics

In Barbara Porter's "Old Syrian Popular Style Cylinder Seals", she elaborates on compositional features, top, bottom and borderless designs for seals with horizontal and vertical elements. The following images are from, "Near Eastern Cylinder Seals", the Marcopoli collection and also the Rosen collections.  

Not all Near Eastern Old Syrian Popular Style cylinder seals had linear borders. While many feature single or multiple horizontal lines framing the carved figures and motifs, variations exist. Some examples omit distinct borders entirely, letting the schematic or linear figures run freely around the cylinder edge, or display irregular framing depending on the local workshop and individual carver. Seals with no borders are heavily associated with specific quickly carved soft stones like chlorite, soapstone and faience. 

Some Old Syrian Popular Style seals have ends that seem to imitate simple caps. Carved in a manner suggesting mock caps because the tops and bottoms are smaller in diameter than the main body of the cylinder. On these seals with recessed ends, there are deep grooves for the linear borders.  

Many of the Near Eastern Old Syrian Popular Style seals because of their very deep carving also have particularly prominent top and bottom linear borders that may have been intended to imitate metal caps that would have been on much better-quality seals. 

Two other methods for providing ways to mark the upper and lower edges of the cylinder seal image entail carving in the stone itself, either a frieze with a continuous design or more commonly, simple engraved lines at the top and bottom. It has a thick border that is filled with closely placed vertical lines. The borders on the top and bottom are simple thin lines, giving the impression that these two design elements are not far apart in conception.

Here, the fist shaped terminal has a band at the top consisting of two simple horizontal lines on either side of a serrated one. The pattern at the bottom reveals only an upper straight line over a serrated one. Close study of the seal suggests that there was never a bottom line, hence the bottom lines were not identical to the top ones. 

A third method of defining the top and bottom with single engraved linear borders, also referred to as line borders, is the most prevalent type on Old Syrian Popular Style seas.

Bottom of cylinder seal only.

Top of cylinder seal only.

There are also seals with a continuous frieze just at the top. This band is seemingly unrelated to the main scene below and usually takes up about one quarter of the seal heights. These bands are created by various combinations of simple lines and lines that are either notched or serrated. The bands themselves are filled with combination of animals, some highly stylized, and disassociated human heads.

Subsidiary scenes have horizontal dividers of a variety of forms, a notched line surrounded by a thin oval. 

Rectangular panel filled with vertical striations.

Some seals have superimposed figures or objects but usually animals which give the appearance of subsidiary scenes. The division of the seal composition is in many cases more visual than conceptual. 3

Dividing lines which break up the seal image into multiple horizontal registers of seemingly equal value. This seal is divided into two registers.

The arched canopy or enclosure is depicted in a variety. Some have denticulated or serrated edging.