Seal.
1. A species of die having a device or motto cut in
intaglio on its face for the purpose of stamping a device or motto in
relief on clay, wax, or other material, while in a plastic state, or upon paper.
The signet of Taia, the
Queen of Amenophis, is still in existence, in the
Egyptian Museum of the Vatican.
The golden seal of
Menes is in the
Abbott Collection, Historical Society of New York.
The signet-rings of Thothmes III.
(gold) and Amunoph III.
(silver) have been preserved.
In ancient times the ring usually served as a seal.
The most ancient heroes are described as wearing seals.
A law of
Solon, to prevent counterfeiting seals, forbade the seal-engraver to keep the form of a seal made by him. Ancient seal-rings were of gold, iron, ivory etc. They were worn by both sexes in
Greece, commonly on the fourth finger, but the fingers were sometimes loaded.
Gems were frequently used, the onyx being the favorite.
The modern have not exceeded the beauty of the ancient gem and cameo cutting.
Hollow cylinders of agate, amethyst, chalcedony, onyx, etc., one and a half to three inches long, and with a diameter one third the length, and engraved with arrow-head characters, are found among the ruins of
Babylon, and were used as seals, by impressing upon either clay or wax. The axial hole was for a metallic rod, by which the seal was rolled upon the clay to deliver the impression.
Hence the expression in Job XXXVIII. 14:
It is turned as clay to the seal,
And they stand as a garment.
Or otherwise rendered,
It turneth round like a seal of clay,
And things stand out as though in dress.
In the metaphor, the earth itself is as a clay seal, rolling upon its axis, and all its scenery and busy life are but as images upon the face of the roller.
By inking the surface and delivering an impression, the character might be left white upon the material impressed.
A Babylonian cylindrical seal of jasper is in
M. Durero's collection.
It has a cuneiform inscription and the image of a winged genius in a flowing Babylonish garment.
A clay seal, now in the British Museum, was probably attached to a treaty of peace between Assyria and
Egypt, as it displays upon one piece of clay, side by side, the signets of the kings Sennacherib and
Sabaco.
Fig. 4783 shows two seals of Assyria (
a b), and also impressions (
c d) from two cylindrical seals.
c represents the fish god.
d is the royal cylinder of Sennacherib, found in the ruins of his palace at Koyunjik.
The seal cylinders of Assyria were made of a great variety of hard stones, including agate, chalcedony, quartz, and jasper.
The sides were slightly concave or convex, generally the former.
It was perforated axially.
The art culminated in the time of Sennacherib The seal, whose impression is shown at
d, is equal in execution to the best
Greek intaglios Besides the king and certain religious emblems, the ibex is shown upon the lotus flower.
The material is of translucent green feldspar.
Fig. 4784 represents seals, a cylinder, and two tablets of the ancient
Assyrians.
The materials for sealing in ancient times were terra-sigillaris (a kind of clay), cement, paste, wax, and lead.
King Ahab affixed his seal to the death-warrant of Naboth, 899 B. C.
Impressions on lead were attached to
Saxon documents.
[
2081]
Wax was first used on documents about 1213.
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Assyrian seals. |
Magna Charta is sealed with white wax. In 1445, red wax was used in
England.
Tavernier mentions the use of gum-lac in
Surat.
A German recipe of three centuries since recommends pure resin, with cinnabar, lampblack, smalt,
white lead, or orpiment, according to the color desired.
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Assyrian seals, cylinder, and tablets. |
An early specimen of sealing-wax is on a letter, August 3, 1554, from “
Gerard Hermann” to “
P. H. Von Dann,” in
Germany.
See sealing-wax.
2. (
Gas-works.) A water-trap joint, as in gasworks, where the gas is drawn or forced beneath a plate, whose lower edge is beneath the level of the water in the tar-well.
See dip-pipe, page 705.
