Form in Art essays

Form in Art essays The object in question is marked as a Syrian, Bronze Age, stone label seal (c. 3rd- 2nd millennium). Most of the seals I have viewed have much more representational forms on them than this object has. I have not been able to find any books which have pictures of items with this name, which leads me to believe that it has been marked wrong. The object resembles a small, oval shaped bead with indentations in the centers of the longer sides, making it look like the number 8. Both sides have the same, simple decoration of carved lines;(if the object is viewed with the hole through its middle going up to down rather than left to right) two vertical lines in the center and four horizontal lines on either side of these. One side of the object is flat, but the other side is convex. After viewing many pictures of seals and cylinder seals, I find it unusual that this object should be marked as a seal because the design of its decoration is so simple. It seems more likely that this object is what one definition calls a token or a small, stone or clay bead worn on a string about the neck. Each token was a different size or shape and stood for different business transactions. An impression would be made in clay or wax signifying that the transaction took place.(1). These tokens were often only a shape that could be recognized as being different from other individuals token shapes, like a persons signature. The indentations and line decoration on the token make it resemble a pair of wings. The shape of the tokens flat side and rounded side are like a human chest cavity. This could be a combination of human (skeleton) and spirituality (wings). There are many depictions of winged gods and goddesses in ancient Near Eastern art. Though this object is highly utilitarian and has little representational decoration, it seems likely that there would be a connection between its wing-like shape and the frequency of wings i...