Arabic and Persian seals and amulets in the British Museum
By: Venetia Porter ; with special assistance from Robert Hoyland and Alexander Morton ; with contributions from Shailendra Bhandare, and scientific analysis by Janet Ambers [and others]
Contributors: Bhandare, Shailendra; Hoyland, Robert G., 1966-; Morton, A. H.; Ambers, J.; British Museum
Series: British Museum Research Publication -- no. 160; Research publication (British Museum) -- no. 160.
Publisher: British Museum
Published: 2011
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 202
ISBN-13: 9780861591602
Subjects: Catalogs; Seals (Numismatics); British Museum; Arabic Inscriptions; Amulets; Persian Inscriptions
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-194).
Table of contents: title: Seal practice in the Islamic world --; title: Terminology --; title: Byzantine practice and influence --; title: Islam: the Prophet's seal --; title: The diwan al-khatim: the 'office of the seal' and the Sasanian legacy --; title: Sasanian royal seals --; title: The relationship between Sasanian and early Islamic seals --; title: Seals of the caliphs as described by medieval authors --; title: Early Islamic lead and bronze seals: form and function --; title: The study of lead seals --; title: The terms 'kura' and 'iqlim' --; title: Seals on Arabic papyri and clay discs --; title: Clay tokens or receipts --; title: Personal seals: literary references --; title: Figural representation on early seals --; title: From the tenth century: the 'alama and ink seals --; title: The Safavid period: seal impressions, royal and personal seals --; title: Indo-Muslim seals of the seventeenth-nineteenth centuries --; title: Features of Indo-Muslim seals --; title: Seal practice under the Ottomans --; title: Forgery --; title: Seal engravers --; title: Parallels between coins and seals --; title: Seals and amulets from archaeological sites --; title: Style and content of the early seals --; title: Definition of scripts --; title: Epigraphy and dating --; title: Grammatical and orthographic features --; title: Rhyming assonantal inscriptions and parallels with coins --; title: Ornamentation --; title: Shapes and mounts --; title: Names --; title: Phrases --; title: Later seals --; title: Provenance --; title: Dates on seals --; title: Scope and arrangement of the catalogue --; title: Arabic --; title: Recording the inscription --; title: Trransliteration --; title: Qur'an and Hadith references --; title: The British Museum collection -- -- Table 1; title: Epigraphic Styles on Seals -- -- Table 2; title: Ornamentation -- -- Table 3; title: Shapes and Mounts -- -- 1.; title: Clay, bronze and lead sealings c. eighth-tenth centuries --; title: Clay sealings --; title: Bronze sealing --; title: Lead sealings from Syria, Palestine and North Africa --; title: Eastern Islamic world: Abbasid and Buyid sealings --; title: Dulafid sealings -- -- 2.; title: Names -- -- 3.; title: Names and phrases --; title: al-i'tisam billah ('seeking refuge in God') --; title: al-thiqa billah ('trust in God') --; title: al-tawakkul 'ala Allah ('reliance on God') --; title: dhikr al-mawt ('remembrance of death') --; title: lillah/billah ('by' or 'for God') --; title: shukr lillah ('thanks to God') --; title: waliAllah ('the friend of God') --; title: The basmala and the shahada --; title: al-'izzatu lillah ('glory to God') and various phrases -- -- 4.; title: Phrases --; title: Verses from the Qur'an --; title: Allah rabbi, Allah nasihi ('Cod is my Lord and my counsel') --; title: Phrases from the root amana and sabara --; title: The basmala ('in the name of God') --; title: billah/lillah ('by, through, or unto God') and other phrases --; title: tub na lillah ('we have repented to God') or sha'a Allah ('God wills') --; title: ta'ala Allah ('God is exalted' or 'God is ever almighty') --; title: tawakkul tukfa ('rely [on God]'; 'trust or confidence [in God] will suffice you') --; title: al-hamdu lillah ('Praise be to God') --; title: hasbi Allah ('God is sufficient for me') --; title: al-haya' min al-iman ('modesty is [a part of] faith') --; title: al-hukm lillah ('judgement belongs to God') --; title: li kull ajal kitab ('for each period a book is revealed') --; title: la ilaha illa Allah ('there is no god but God') --; title: masha'a Allah ('as God wills', and associated phrases) --; title: ma tawfiqi illa billah ('and my success can only come from God') --; title: man l'tasam billah ('whoever holds firmly to God') --; title: man katama sirrahu ('he who keeps his secret') --; title: al-mawt ('death') --; title: al-mulk lillah ('sovereignty belongs to God') --; title: nawal allah ('gift from God') --; title: subhan Allah ('glory to God') --; title: al-sabr ('patience') --; title: al-'izz/al-'izza lillah ('glory / honour / might / power belongs to God') --; title: 'inayat al-irada ('watchfulness of God's will') --; title: al-wafa ('loyalty') --; title: al-jalal lillah ('glory belongs to God') --; title: Single words --; title: ihfaz ('guard or preserve') --; title: al-'ala or al-'ali ('nobility 'or 'the most high') --; title: Phrases with makkana ('establish, enable, give strength') --; title: Various phrases and supplications (du'a') --; title: Muhammad and 'All --; title: The Twelve Imams --; title: St George and the dragon --; title: Poetic texts --; title: Uncertain phrases -- -- 5.; title: Re-engraved seals and seals with Arabic inscriptions on both sides --; title: Re-engraved ancient seals --; title: Seals with Arabic inscriptions engraved on both sides -- -- 6.; title: Seals c. fourteenth century and later --; title: Seals with personal names and benedictory inscriptions or names of the Fourteen Immacutates --; title: Seals with names alone --; title: Seals inscribed in Persian -- -- 7.; title: Dated seals --; title: Stone dated seals --; title: Stone seals with only two or three numerals --; title: Brass dated seals --; title: Brass seals with only two or three numerals -- -- 8.; title: Indo-Muslim and miscellaneous seals -- -- A.; title: Servants of the court and the Emperor --; title: Seals of officials (the phrase banda-i dargah + regnal year or regnal yearon its own) --; title: Name and regnal year only -- -- B.; title: Dated seals, officials or private individuals arranged chronologically --; title: Hijra and AD dates --; title: Three numerals only --; title: Vikram Samvat era --; title: Undated seals -- -- C.; title: Forgeries of royal seals -- -- D.; title: Seals made for Europeans and officials serving in India -- -- E.; title: Miscellaneous seals: foreign residents of Iran -- -- 9.; title: Amulets: Introduction --; title: Positive and negative amulets --; title: Amulets and the place of magic in Islam --; title: The relationship between amulet maker and client --; title: Magicalliterature --; title: Inscriptions on amulets --; title: The importance of the Qur'an on amulets --; title: The 'Names of God' --; title: Arrangement of this part of the catalogue -- -- Table 4; title: The Abjad System -- -- Table 5; title: The Names of God -- -- Table 6; title: The Fourteen Immaculates -- -- 9.; title: Catalogue of Amulets --; title: 'Names of God' --; title: The basmala and the shahada --; title: Verses from the Qur'an --; title: Short passages from the Qur'an --; title: The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus --; title: a'udhu bi-jalal Allah ('I seek protection in the glory of God' etc.) --; title: Supplications to God --; title: God, the Prophet Muhammad and his family, and the Twelve Imams --; title: The Fourteen Immaculates --; title: A group of gold amulets --; title: Three cameo glass amulets --; title: Dated amulets --; title: Letters, symbols, numbers, strange words, magic squares and the abjad system --; title: Magical squares --; title: The 'mysterious' letters of the Qur'an --; title: The seven magical signs --; title: The angels --; title: Amulets with engraving errors: authentic or not? --; title: Brass amulets inscribed in negative --; title: Spinning rings --; title: Talismanic discs and the 'lunette script' --; title: Magical words, mixed numbers and letters --; title: 'Linear Kuflc' --; title: Rock crystal seals inscribed in 'linear Kufic' --; title: Lions and scorpions --; title: Identification of the Materials of the Seals and Amulets  -- Janet Ambers; title: Introduction --; title: Methodology --; title: Materials --; title: Bibliography --; title: Methods of Engraving  -- Nigel Meeks; title: Introduction and methods of examination --; title: Observations and Interpretations --; title: Concluding remarks --; title: Bibliography --; title: Bibliography --; title: Online references --; title: Concordances --; title: Concordance of catalogue numbers and British Museum registration numbers: seals --; title: Concordance of catalogue numbers and British Museum registration numbers: amulets --; title: Concordance of British Museum registration numbers with catalogue numbers.