A SOLID GOLD INDUS VALLEY TWIN FACED AMULET SEAL DEPICTING AN IBEX , CIRCA 2800 B.C. - 1900 BC

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A SOLID GOLD INDUS VALLEY TWIN-FACED AMULET SEAL DEPICTING AN IBEX, CIRCA 2800-1900 B.C. Of compact upright form, worked in solid gold and rising from a rectangular flat base through a short tapering shaft to a modelled zoomorphic head surmounted by a pierced suspension loop. The head is rendered frontally, with prominent lentoid eyes set beneath a broad brow, a triangular muzzle finished with a beaded or ribbed border along the lower edge, and two curving horns or ears sweeping outward to either side. The shaft behind the head carries fine incised hatching. The base is plain and smoothly finished, the metal retaining a warm untarnished lustre across the modelled surfaces. The frontal presentation of the animal, with its outward-curving horns, broad muzzle and enlarged eyes, follows a schematic convention found across small-scale Indus figural production, in which the identifying attributes of the beast, namely the horns and the shape of the head, are emphasised at the expense of naturalistic proportion. The ibex, or wild caprid, appears repeatedly in the glyptic and amuletic repertoire of the Harappan world, alongside the humped bull, the buffalo, the elephant and the composite unicorn. As a mountain animal associated with high pasture and with fertility, the caprid carried a positive symbolic charge across the wider Bronze Age world from the Iranian plateau to the Indus, and its recurrence on personal ornaments of this kind suggests use as an apotropaic or status marker worn on the body. The choice of solid gold is itself the primary statement of the object. The great majority of surviving Harappan seals and amulets are of steatite, terracotta or faience, and gold examples are exceptional. Gold in the Indus Valley was obtained through long-distance exchange, and its working, whether by hammering, chasing or lost-wax casting, was restricted to a narrow class of prestige ornaments recovered from the principal urban centres of Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Lothal and Chanhu-daro. An amulet-seal of this weight, integrating the suspension loop, the modelled animal head and the flat base within a single small mass of the metal, belongs to that restricted class of personal ornaments made for individuals of high standing within Harappan urban society. The combination of pierced loop and flat lower face indicates a dual function. Suspended from a cord and worn against the body, the object served as a personal amulet. Pressed against a soft medium such as clay, the base and, potentially, the modelled reverse could have functioned as a mark of identity or ownership, in keeping with the wider Harappan seal tradition in which glyptic and amuletic uses converge in a single object. This amulet exemplifies the intersection of goldsmithing and glyptic tradition at the height of the Mature Harappan phase, when the visual language of the steatite seal was transposed into the most prestigious available medium. Its small scale, the reduction of the ibex to its defining frontal attributes, and the integration of loop, figure and sealing face within a single cast body are characteristic of the finest personal ornaments produced within the Indus urban centres. Dimensions: Height 2.2 cm

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