Elephant seal stone, circa 4000 - 3500 BC, set in an 18-carat gold and silk necklace.
Ebu is a statement necklace featuring a remarkable ancient seal stone. The personal seal, drilled at the back and originally worn on a cord, predates writing and belongs to the tradition of figurative imagery from which the written word eventually emerged.
In northern Syria during the Late Chalcolithic period (approx. 4000–3500 BC), seal stones played a vital role in these early, complex societies. They were used by long distance merchants and the elite institutional administrators that managed these economies. They would wrap strings around the openings of jars, woven baskets or storage room doors. They would then place a wet clay bulla over the knot and press the flat bottom of the gable seal into the clay. Once dry, the impression acted as a tamper-evident lock.
The increasingly abstract symbols in these seals served as a vital link in the chain of ideas that eventually led to writing. They were also status objects and personal symbols that formed the signature of an individual. Rarely left at home, they were worn around the neck or wrist as ornamentation, amulets and as a public display of social authority.
The steatite used for Ebu is formed as a gable seal but also has theriomorphic form - that is to say, it is animal-shaped. The carving in the seal is a traditional ibex but the stylised design and stone shape forms an elephant - an apotropaic personal symbol. Animal-shaped stamp seals were common in the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age but theriomorphic gable seals are rare.
When southern Mesopotamians developed proto-cuneiform around 3350–3000 BC, they absorbed several widespread motifs from older stamp seals, converting them into written logograms used for accounting. This wonderful artefact holds the symbology that led to written history whilst also presenting the exquisite art of pre-history, the softly curved edges carved to form a graceful hindquarter and head with a gentle eye. The elephants legs, drawn high into the torso, suggest a steady pendular motion.
Wonderful sculptures of elephants dating from 3,000 BC have been found at Jemdet Nasr. The stone is presented in a handmade 18-carat gold pendant and grass-green silk kumihimo necklace.
