Just cleaning up for the end of the week and reshelving some of the stamp seals and roller seals that belong to: Pre-Columbian stamp seals and roller seals, no date [pre-1600]. Clay. Graphic Arts Collection. GC185. Gift of Gillett G. Griffin.

The collection consists of 147 clay stamp seals and roller or cylinder seals dating from the Pre-Columbian era and Post-Conquest until 1600 AD, chiefly from Mesoamerica but possibly from other places in the Americas. These seals (sellos) include anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, floral, and geometric designs, and were probably used to decorate fabric and/or the human body. Some of the stamps contain remains of pigments. They are organized in four boxes by type and numbered consecutively. The ones seen here are in box 4.

 

See also: Anthony Ortegon. Pre-Columbian stamp seals (Pueblo, Colo.: AOA Associates, 1999). Rare Books: Reference Collection in Dulles Reading Rm. (ExB) E59 .A7 1999