Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Seal of Tarkasnawa, King of Mira
(Ancient Near East )
Luwian hieroglyphs surround a figure in royal dress. The inscription, repeated in cuneiform around the rim, gives the seal owner's name: Tarkasnawa, king of Mira. The name of the ruler was previously transliterated into English as Tarkondemos and Tarkummuwa. Other inscriptions naming Tarkasnawa of Mira are known, including seals found at Hattusa (the capital of the Hittite Empire) and the Karabel rock relief carving near Izmir, Turkey. Located in west-central Anatolia, Mira was a vassal state of the Hittite Empire. This seal, originally published in the 1860s, was purchased in Izmir by its first known modern owner, A. Jovanoff. Its famous bilingual inscription provided the first clues for deciphering Luwian hieroglyphs, which were previously called Hittite hieroglyphs.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
[Purchased at Smyrna (Izmir), ca. 1850]; A. Iovanoff, Constantinople (Istanbul), by 1861. Joseph Brummer, New York and Paris, 1925, by purchase [Brummer inv. no. P2348]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1925, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Exhibitions
| 2019 | Forgotten Realms. Heirs of the Hittite Empire. Musée du Louvre, Paris. |
| 1984 | The Taste of Maryland: Art Collecting in Maryland 1800-1934. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| 10/2/1974 | Treatment | cleaned; coated |
| 12/6/1977 | Treatment | other |
| 12/20/1977 | Examination | x-ray fluorescence |
Geographies
Turkey, Arzawa, Western Anatolia (Mira) (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H: 3/8 x Diam: 1 5/8 in. (1 x 4.2 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters, 1925
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
57.1512