A SMALL SILVER TORTOISE-FORM SEAL

Details

A SMALL SILVER TORTOISE-FORM SEAL
HAN DYNASTY

The tortoise standing firmly atop a square seal, with crisply cast, arched carapace, its head raised and cast with lines radiating backwards from a lozenge placed between the eyes, base cut with four archaic seal characters, some dark green encrustation on underside of figure--1in. (2.5cm.) across

Lot Essay

Compare the silver seal of this form, but with differently marked carapace, unearthed in Yichuan County, Henan province, 1970, included in the exhibition, Treasures from the Han, Pte. Ltd., 1990, Catalogue, p. 42. See also the tortoise-form seals of various materials, including silver, Ancient Chinese Arts in the Idemitsu Collection, 1989, no. 243 and a silver seal, no. 244