Ancient Greek Bronze Seal with Bezel Engraved with a Horse Culture / Period: Ancient Greek Date / Period: c. 500 B.C. Material: Bronze Dimensions: Diameter: 20 mm Condition: Good condition; finely engraved bezel preserved, the original ring band is now absent. No shipping outside the European Union. Due to complex export regulations concerning cultural goods, this item cannot be shipped outside the EU. Please ensure you have a delivery address within the European Union before placing a bid. Provenance information: Object Registration ID: 59 The current owner purchased this Ancient Greek bronze seal with bezel engraved with a horse from a private collector, N.N., in Tilburg, the Netherlands. The previous owner, a private collector from Tilburg, stated that the object had been in his collection since an unknown date. According to the previous owner, the object had previously been in a private collection in the Netherlands since the 1980s. No further information concerning the earlier ownership history of the object was available from the previous owner. Background Information: This bronze seal preserves an engraved bezel depicting a horse, a motif with strong significance in ancient Greek visual culture. Around 500 B.C., the horse was associated with status, mobility, aristocratic identity, warfare, competition, and the wider world of elite display. The original ring band is now absent, but the preserved engraved bezel indicates that the object once formed part of a personal ring or seal. In ancient Greece, engraved seals and ring bezels served both practical and personal functions. They could be used to impress a design into clay or wax, marking ownership, authorising documents, or identifying goods. At the same time, the chosen image reflected the owner’s cultural environment, personal taste, and social identity. A horse would have been a recognisable and meaningful image within Greek society, especially in connection with equestrian skill, wealth, and prestige. The piece belongs to the period around the transition from the Late Archaic to the Early Classical era, a time of major artistic development in the Greek world. Engraving on a small bronze surface required careful control of line, proportion, and composition. Such work reflects an organised tradition of metalworking and seal production, in which practical objects could also carry refined visual imagery. Objects of this kind circulated through trade, gift exchange, travel, and local markets across the Greek world and neighbouring regions. They were not merely decorative objects, but personal possessions used, worn, and handled in daily life. This seal forms a tangible connection to the ancient Greek world, where small engraved objects combined practical function with identity, symbolism, and visual culture."