Neo-Babylonian Achaemenid Graeco-Persian Smoky Chalcedony Conoid Stamp Seal

Mesopotamia or Western Achaemenid Provinces, ca. 7th–4th Century BCE

Mounted as a 14K Gold Pendant Necklace

A fine and well-polished domed conoid stamp seal of translucent smoky grey chalcedony, a stone type particularly favored by Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid seal-cutters and paralleled by examples in the British Museum and the Walters Art Museum. The circular flat face is briskly cut in the linear ("cursive") drilled style of the 1st-millennium BCE Mesopotamian/Persian glyptic tradition, depicting a lively standing figure,  a royal hero, worshipper, or deity  wearing a tall horned or polos-like headdress, his body in profile with arms raised, brandishing weapons (a club/mace and a short sword or dagger), with a small animal (couchant quadruped or subdued lion/ibex) at his feet and subsidiary star/filler motifs in the field. The horned crown and "Master of Animals" stance are classic hallmarks of Neo-Babylonian conoid seals (ca. 7th–6th century BCE) and of the western Achaemenid "court style" that continued the iconography into the 5th–4th century BCE.

The dome is vertically pierced through the apex for suspension — the original intended mode of wear on a cord around the owner's neck or wrist — and has been strung on a modern wearable 14K gold rope chain for present display.

Dimensions: Seal 7/8 × 7/8 × 13/16 in. (approx. 2.2 × 2.2 × 2.1 cm); chain length 22 in.
Condition: Intact; crisp intaglio; fine polish to the domed body; natural minor surface wear consistent with age.

Provenance:  Private collection, Newark, Delaware, acquired prior to 1981 which satisfies the pre-1970/1983 UNESCO-era provenance threshold preferred by major auction houses for ancient Near Eastern seals.