Bronze seal with inscription “Ya qin”, late Shang dynasty, c. 13th-11th century BCE

Bronze seal with inscription“Ya qin”，late Shang dynasty， c. 13th-11th century BCE

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• Image Number:C1A000397N000000000PAE
• Dynamy:Shang dynamity
• Category:Bronzes
• Function:Seal
• Material:Mineral/Metal/Bronze
• Description:
  The semi annular nose button and the thin plate shape of this seal belong to the original practical prototype of the seal, Therefore, it should be regarded as the originator of seals in later generations. The printed surface is in the form of embossed characters, consisting of “bird”, “shek” and “ya”. “Bird” is one of the family emblems of the late Shang Dynasty, and it is also the name of the bird; The “sheh” is the god, and the “a” is the edge of the seal. The combination of the “a” and the two “shes” should be like the architectural shape of the shrine where the ancestor god is stored in the ancient ancestral temple, so it is the symbol of the temple, which is also the symbol of the family. Therefore, this seal should be the seal of the late Shang bird family, but we call it the “a bird” seal according to the seal text

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