sigillography

Introduction

      the study of seals (seal). A sealing is the impression made by the impact of a hard engraved surface on a softer material, such as clay or wax, once used to authenticate documents in the manner of a signature today; the word seal (Latin sigillum; old French scel) refers either to the matrix (or die) or to the impression. Seals are usually round or a pointed oval in shape or occasionally triangular, square, diamond, or shield-shaped.

      Medieval matrices were usually made of latten—a kind of bronze—or of silver. Ivory and lead were occasionally used, gold very rarely. Steel was used from the 17th century. Matrices could include intaglio gems. The usual material for the impression was sealing wax, made of beeswax and resin, often coloured red or green. In southern Europe, notably in the papal Curia, lead and occasionally gold were used. Shellac, the wax used today, was introduced in the 16th century.

      Seals were used to establish the authenticity of such documents as charters and legal agreements and for the verification of administrative warrants. In southern Europe, early medieval documents were drawn up by notaries and authenticated with their written signa, but this never replaced seals in northern Europe. Forgeries (forgery) were manufactured as early as the 12th century, indicating how important seals had become. From that time, also, seals were used to close folded documents and thus to guarantee their secrecy. Seals were also used to affirm assent; for example, by a jury. Under the Statute of Cambridge (1388), sealed letters were used in England for the identification of people and their places of origin.

      Sigillography is used to assist other historical studies. Many impressions have survived from the medieval period. Those attached to documents are most valuable, because the documents may date their use precisely and the seal may confirm the documents' authenticity. Unattached seals may still provide useful evidence from their inscription or design. Fragmentary seal impressions are often difficult to interpret. Fewer matrices have survived and often without related impressions. Seals often reflect the taste of the owner. They provide evidence for changes in fashion in both secular and ecclesiastical costume and for the development of armour. Seals indicate heraldry before the earliest rolls of arms and are an original source for armorial bearings, which thereby enables the historian to trace the distinctions or alliances between various families and so contributes to genealogy. Craftsmen's seals often display tools connected with trade. Depictions of towns, churches, castles, and monasteries, although conventional, can often aid the architectural historian. Seals can also be used profitably for studying ancient ships, particularly their shape and details of masts and rigging. The main difficulty in studying seal designs is that they were often conservative, especially since seals were often replaced with an exactly similar design.

John Cherry

Seals in antiquity

      Seals with designs carved in intaglio were used throughout antiquity. They were of two main types—the cylinder (cylinder seal) and the stamp. The cylinder first appeared in Mesopotamia (art and architecture, Mesopotamian) in the late 4th millennium BC and continued to be used there until the 4th century BC. It was also widespread in Elam, Syria, and Egypt (3rd millennium BC) and in Cyprus and the Aegean (2nd millennium BC). Stamp seals preceded cylinders, first appearing in Mesopotamia in the 5th millennium BC and developing over a period of about 1,500 years until largely replaced by the cylinder in the 3rd millennium. Early stamp seals were also used in Iran, northern Syria, and southeastern Anatolia during the 4th and 3rd millennia; in Anatolia their use was continued in the 2nd millennium by the Hittites. In Mesopotamia the stamp seal gradually came into use again in the 8th–6th centuries, effectively replacing the cylinder by the 3rd century BC. In Egypt the scarab largely replaced the cylinder seal early in the 2nd millennium BC and continued as the main type until replaced by the signet ring in Roman times. In the Aegean, various types of stamp seals were used throughout the 2nd and much of the 1st millennium BC, until in Hellenistic and Roman times the signet ring became dominant.

      The uses of ancient seals are known from textual references and ancient sealings, both on lumps of clay and on documents found in excavations. In historical times most prominent citizens, including women, carried their own seals. That the rank or office of the owner was often included in the inscription indicates that many of these may have been official seals. Kings had their own seals, and high officials could hold the king's seal as a mark of delegated authority.

      Seals came into use before the invention of writing for the securing of jars, bales, bags, baskets, boxes, doors, etc., and this use continued throughout ancient times. The method was either to shape clay over the stopper or lid or to make a fastening with cord and place clay around the knot and then impress it with the seal.

      The sealing of written documents, of which the two major ancient classes were clay tablets and papyrus scrolls, became regularly established in the latter part of the 3rd millennium BC. The clay tablet was the main vehicle of writing in Mesopotamia, where cuneiform was used into the Christian Era, and this method spread to Elam, Anatolia, Syria, and Egypt; clay tablets were also used in the Aegean Bronze Age. The tablet was inscribed while the clay was soft, and seal impressions were applied at the same time.

      The main kinds of sealed cuneiform documents were contracts, accounts, and letters. Contracts were sealed by the contracting parties and by witnesses and commonly encased in clay “envelopes,” on which the text was either repeated or summarized and the seals again impressed. Two special kinds of contract were the royal grant to a subject, impressed with the royal seal of the grantor, and the treaty between nations, a number of examples of which have been recovered, some of them bearing impressions of the seals of the royal contracting parties. Account tablets were sealed to authenticate the transfer of goods. A letter was often encased in an “envelope” and the sender's seal impressed on the outside to identify him to the recipient and, in the case of official letters, to authenticate any commands contained in the letter.

      In Egypt, papyrus documents may be assumed from soon after 3000 BC, but surviving evidence dates mostly from the latter part of the 3rd millennium onward. The method of sealing a papyrus document was to roll it into a tube, tie a strand or cord around the centre, and seal a clay lump over the knot. This method continued into the Christian Era, from which time a great number of Greek papyri have survived in Egypt. It was not until the 1st millennium BC that this kind of document, including by then leather and parchment, came into wide use outside Egypt. The spread of this kind of document, on which the space for a seal was small, probably played some part in the gradual replacement of the cylinder by the stamp seal.

      No documents or sealings have been discovered from ancient India, but the still undeciphered inscriptions on the seals may include personal names, perhaps of merchants, who could have used the seals in much the same ways as their Near Eastern contemporaries, with whom they are known to have had commercial contacts.

      Since seals were used throughout ancient times and are sufficiently durable to have survived in very large numbers, they form one of the few classes of ancient objects in which a continuous development can be traced. The great majority bear artistic representations, so their chief value is for art history, but, since these include details of environment (plants, animals), equipment (plows, chariots, musical instruments), or dress, they also contribute to cultural history.

      Further information is provided by the inscriptions on seals. The existence of rulers known only from king lists may sometimes be confirmed by the discovery of their seals, and in some cases rulers are known only from their seals, which, because they often mention the names of their fathers, the cities that they ruled, and the chief gods that they served, form a valuable historical source. The assembling of tablets and sealings bearing the impressions of private seals can contribute to the reconstruction of business archives and the destinations of traded goods, thus providing valuable material for economic analysis, and far-flung trade contacts can be deduced from foreign seals in excavations (e.g., Indus Valley seals in Babylonia). Personal names are an important source for ethnic analysis, and inscribed seals, because they often name the owner's father and even grandfather, provide material for this as well as for genealogical reconstruction.

Terence Croft Mitchell

Medieval European seals

      The connection between Roman and medieval seals lies in the use of seals in the chanceries of the Merovingian (Merovingian dynasty) and Carolingian (Carolingian dynasty) kings. Many Ottonian seals had busts of the emperors. Royal seals of medieval type, with the ruler enthroned and bearing his insignia, appear from the 11th century. The use of seals by bishops and nobles became usual at this time and was widespread by the 12th century. By the 13th century, seals were used by all classes, including small landowners; and, by the 14th century, simple seal matrices could be bought ready-made.

      The quality of engraving varied greatly. Some delicately designed seals date from the 12th century, such as the silver seal of Isabella of Hainaut, queen of France in 1180–90. The silver equestrian seal of Robert Fitzwalter is a notable example of the 13th century, the period of the finest seal engraving.

      The names of several engravers of medieval seals are known: for example, Luke, who engraved the seal of Exeter, and Walter de Ripa, who engraved the first great seal of Henry III of England.

Forms of medieval seals

      Seal matrices may be single or double, thus producing an impression on either one or both sides of the wax. Single matrices, the older type, often have a ridge along the back and end in a loop. Double matrices, known from the 11th century onward, are flat, with two to four projecting lugs pierced with holes in which vertical pins keep the halves aligned.

      Sealing both sides of the wax makes detaching the seal more difficult, and so in medieval times the reverse was often sealed by a counterseal for greater security. The official seal of an institution was often countersealed by the seal of an official, such as a town by its mayor. Single seals were often fitted with a handle; the most common type was a six-sided cone ending in a trefoil. In some matrices the centre screwed outward, enabling the device to be used without a legend. On many seals the back was marked with a cross to indicate the top.

      Seals could be either applied to the surface of a document or appended from it by a strip of material. Application was the earlier system, although papal bulls were always appended. Appended seals appeared in England in the 11th century and in France in the 12th; seals were appended either on a tongue of parchment cut across from the bottom of the document or on a tag of parchment, leather, or silk inserted through a cut in the document. Some documents had many seals. Seals were often protected by woven bags or by boxes of wood, metal, or ivory known as skippets.

      The legend, often abbreviated, usually declared the name of the owner or institution; it often began with a cross and the word sigillum, followed by the name in the genitive case. Latin remained in fashion for inscriptions, though English and French are occasionally found from the 13th century, more frequently on personal seals. On English seals roman capitals were used in the 11th and 12th centuries and Lombardic ones in the 13th and early 14th centuries. black letter (Gothic script) was first used in England in the 14th century and was quite popular in the 15th century, although Lombardic often continued for capitals. Roman capitals reappeared in the 16th century.

Royal and official seals

      The great seal, or seal of majesty (a round seal showing the seated ruler with the royal insignia), first appeared in Europe on the seal of the emperor Henry II of Germany (ruled 1002–24), in France on the seal of Henry I (ruled 1031–60), and in England on the double seal of Edward the Confessor (ruled 1042–66). The seal of William I of England (ruled 1066–87) had the King on one side and an equestrian figure on the other. The kings of France adopted double seals under Louis VII (ruled 1137–80).

      The development of lesser royal seals can be illustrated by the growth of English government. Deputed great seals were used for the major legal courts and for France, Ireland, and Wales. The expansion of the kings' affairs caused the addition of smaller, more personal seals, such as the signet. The Chancery did not control these seals, and this freedom led to the evolution of autonomous offices. The privy seal appeared early in the 13th century in the custody of the clerks of the king's chamber. It was soon transferred to the wardrobe clerks, and gradually its importance increased until by the early 14th century the keeper of the privy seal was the third minister of state. The keepership gained further prestige in midcentury, when the great seal was entrusted to the keepers who went abroad with Edward (Edward II) III. As the privy seal grew in importance, the king preferred another small seal for authenticating correspondence and warrants. Under Edward II (ruled 1307–27) there was a secret seal distinct from the privy seal. By 1400 the signet, as the secret seal was then called, was in the charge of the king's secretary. The signet rather than the privy seal became the originating force in administration, and from 1540 there were two secretaries, each with two signets. The privy seal and signet seal were both single armorial seals.

      Royal officials had their own seals. Circular admirals' seals, dating from the late 14th century to the 17th century, include a fine group of 15th-century bronze matrices. The seals show ships in great detail, with the sails displaying the arms of the admiral.

Religious seals

      The principal episcopal seal was the seal of dignity, always a pointed oval. From the 11th to the 14th century it usually depicted the standing figure of the bishop, from the 13th century with a canopy above him. In the mid-14th century the standing figure was often replaced by a saint or a religious scene, with the bishop praying beneath—a form that had been used earlier on episcopal counterseals. The seal of Thomas Arundel (Arundel, Thomas), archbishop of Canterbury (1396), depicts the martyrdom of Becket in the centre of an elaborate series of niches, with the archbishop below.

      Monastic seals, usually double-sided and of high quality, normally show the buildings of the monastery, religious scenes, or the patron saint. They were distinct from abbots' and priors' seals, which were similar to those of bishops. Notable was the elaborate four-part matrix of Boxgrove Priory (mid-13th century). The seal of Merton Priory (1241), considered the finest English medieval seal, had the Virgin and child on one side with St. Augustine of Hippo on the other.

      Papal bulls (bull, papal) were doubled-sided lead seals appended to the document on strings. The earliest known is that of Deusdedit (reigned 615–618). The usual design, with the head of the Apostles Peter and Paul on one side and the pope's name on the other, first appeared under Paschal II (reigned 1099–1118). Although this style of portrayal of the heads was changed in the Renaissance, the design has not been altered.

Town seals

      The possession of a common seal was an important part of a town's independence. Town seals were almost always round and often double. Many towns still possess their original matrices. The earliest in England date from around 1200, when many towns received their charters. The seal of Exeter has been dated to c. 1180. Maritime towns often depicted a ship with a furled sail; inland towns often showed the guildhall or the town itself. The seal of Rochester depicted the Norman castle within a wall. Counterseals often bore the figures of saints. Later medieval town seals were less common and beginning with the 14th century were often single seals.

Commercial seals

      Commercial seals in England were considerably increased during the reign of Edward I, when double-sided bronze dies occurred for various customs, subsidies, and the delivery of wool and hides. Their obverse displayed the arms of England, and the reverse had the same device without the shield. The seals of merchants and craftsmen often displayed either merchants' marks or tools connected with their trade.

Personal seals

      The earliest class of personal seals was that of greater barons of the 12th century, who used the device of a fully armed equestrian knight. Their shields often provide the earliest evidence for the use of heraldic charges. Some greater barons used a double seal with an equestrian obverse and an armorial reverse. The most usual type of personal seal was a single seal with the arms of the owner. Women's seals were usually pointed ovals and showed the lady standing, sometimes between shields. Nonheraldic personal seals displayed a variety of devices, such as stars, fleurs-de-lis, armorials, and religious subjects. The inscription sometimes indicated the owner, although it may simply have related to the device, as on those that bore the device of a squirrel and the inscription “I krack nuts.”

Modern use of seals

      The use of seals declined as the use of signatures grew. Personal fob seals were in fashion from the 17th to the early 19th century; often they were gems in gold settings that were carried in the fob or breeches pocket and were used to seal folded private correspondence before the envelope was introduced. States and institutions continued to use seals for the formal ratification of their acts, but few of these seals maintained the medieval vigour of design.

John Cherry

Chinese and Japanese (arts, East Asian) seals

      The private seals used in China (t'u-chang) and Japan (ingyō), commonly square and reading merely “seal of so and so” (XX chih yin), served as a confirmation of signature or a sign to be verified but have not the legal status of a signature. They are made of ivory, wood, or jade. Used by artists and collectors to mark their paintings and books, there is hardly a limit to their fanciful designs and phraseology. A man might own scores of seals, using his many sobriquets, especially those suggesting unworldly and rustic tastes. A seal is impressed in red ink—made of cinnabar in water and honey or suspended in sesame oil, hempseed oil, etc.—held ready on a pad of cotton or moss. The characters most often appear in line, but they are sometimes reserved against the inked ground.

      The first record of a seal in China is from 544 BC. Actual bronze seals survive from the 5th century BC, and the practice of sealing must be some centuries older. The emblematic characters cast on Shang dynasty bronze vessels (13th–11th century BC) imply the use of something like a seal for impressing on the mold. The royal seal and other seals of high office were termed hsi; other seals of rank and appointment were chang. The imperial hsi (called pao beginning in the T'ang period, AD 618–907) was traditionally large and square, made of jade or ivory. The most famous one belonged to Shih Huang-ti (Shihuangdi) (ruled 221–209/210 BC); it had as its knob a one-horned dragon and is fabled to have been handed down to the present day.

      The official and, no doubt, the personal use of seals began in Japan with the copying of Chinese institutions in the 7th century AD. Both in China and in Japan modern seals generally employ the “small seal” character (chuan shu), the “great seal” character being reserved in the past for the ruler and high officers. To the historian the importance of the Far Eastern seals is greater in the earlier periods, and in China they yield more information than in Japan. Thus, seals recovered archaeologically throw light on government appointments made in the Han (Han dynasty) period, particularly in the reign of Han Wu Ti (140–87 BC), when they were tokens of rank given to internal officials and some external client rulers. Gold seals of the “King of the Han Wei-nu county,” found near Fukuoka in 1784, and that of the “King of Tien” excavated near K'un-ming in 1956 have implications of this kind. But in post-Han times the seals have served little if at all as primary historical documents, and in writings on East Asia it is chiefly the art historian who appeals to their testimony in authenticating paintings and calligraphies (calligraphy).

William Watson

Additional Reading

The best general account is Sir Hilary Jenkinson, Guide to Seals in the Public Record Office (1954). Joseph H. Roman, Manuel de sigillographie française (1912), is a longer study mainly on French seals. The basic catalog for European seals and impressions is Walter de Gray Birch, Catalogue of Seals in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum, 6 vol. (1887–1900). Seal matrices are discussed by Alec B. Tonnochy in the Catalogue of British Seal-Dies in the British Museum (1952). Alfred B. Wyon, The Great Seals of England from the Earliest Period to the Present Time (1887), provides a systematic and well-illustrated account of English Great Seals. A full discussion of Classical seal use, with bibliography and occasional reference to Near Eastern sources, is given in the article “Signum,” by Wenger in Pauly-Wissowa Real-Encyclopädie, vol. 2, col. 2361–2448 (1923); and details of use in the Aegean and Greece are conveniently given in John Boardman, Greek Gems and Finger Rings (1970). No adequate study exists of the uses of seals in ancient western Asia. See at present, however, Elena Cassin, “Le Sceau: un fait de civilisation dans la Mésopotamie ancienne,” Annales, pp. 742–751 (1960); and M.I. Rostovtseff, “Seleucid Babylonia: Bullae and Seals of Clay with Greek Inscriptions,” Yale Classical Studies 3:1–114 (1932). A very full bibliography of ancient Eastern seal publications from which information on use may be gleaned is given by Hans H. von der Osten in Ancient Oriental Seals in the Collection of Mr. Edward T. Newell, pp. 168–190 (1934); and in Altorientalische Siegelsteine der Sammlung Hans Silvius von Aulock, pp. 156–219 (1957), but no more recent convenient bibliography exists; systematic study of use must depend mainly on the examination of sealed texts. For Egypt, P.E. Newberry, Scarab-Shaped Seals (1907), provides a brief account, now much in need of revision. Books on Chinese and Japanese seals deal mainly with those of painters, calligraphers, and collectors. Robert H. van Gulik, Chinese Pictorial Art As Viewed by the Connoisseur (1958), has the most illuminating discussion of the artist's use of seals. See also Victoria Contag and Wang Chi-ch'ien, Seals of Chinese Painters and Collectors of the Ming and Ch'ing Periods, rev. ed. (1966); and Ch'en Chih-mai, Chinese Calligraphers and Their Art (1966).

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