Sealing piston

unhallowed silver, lapis lazuli; height 4.4 cm, diameter 6 cm;
Southern Europe?, stone – Azerbaijan, 19th century?
A seal stamp in the form of a truncated, weighted cone with a seal face consisting of a circular lapis lazuli disc featuring an engraved depiction of Pegasus framed by a border of geometric motifs, sides decorated with bands of smooth silver ribbon, lapis lazuli plates, and ornately twisted silver wire. The handle consists of a pair of massive, interconnected silver rings worn on the middle and index fingers, allowing for a firmer press on the die.
Seal stamps of this type were already known in antiquity; surviving pieces are very rare and date mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries, often referencing the forms and decorations created using the intaglio technique popular in ancient Rome and Greece.