Gold-sheet casing for sealstone

The object consists of two gold-sheets, which once covered a now lost lentoid sealstone; the two sheets have been re-fixed to each other in modern times. The front sheet is impressed with a decorative scene depicting a standing bull. Accessorial floral motifs (branches) fill the space above, beneath and in front of the animal. A string-hole runs from above the head of the bull to just below the left end of the lower floral motif. The back sheet is undecorated. Seals are among the most important categories of finds from the Aegean Bronze Age. They were made mainly of semiprecious stones, although examples in metal are also known. Sealstones covered with impressed gold foil are rare and date mostly to the Late Bronze Age. They can be of various materials and shapes. There are also seals made of thicker gold sheets with a core of some soft material (wood, sand, glass paste) as well as hollow examples. The illustrated lentoid, although made of quite robust gold sheets, could not have survived without some kind of filling. The fact that most Aegean metal seals come from mainland Greece (with the exception of gold signet rings, which are also found in Minoan Crete) suggests a mainland Greek origin for this seal, too.