Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c7.s6.1

c7.s6.1

About 1200 steatite seals found at Mohenjo-daro alone occupy an important place in Indus Valley art. The normal size is from ¾" to 1¼" in length, the shape being square, having a perforated boss at the back for handling and suspension. There are seals without the boss also and some of round shape. Only about six specimens of cylinder seals have been found. In manufacture the rough stone was cut with a saw as in the case of beads and finished with a knife and abrasive, the fine carving being done with a burin or fine chisel and drill with utmost care of which the craftsmen were capable. The seals were a mass-produced commodity, "little masterpieces of controlled realism, with a monumental strength, in one sense out of all proportion to their size and in another entirely related to it, their average attainment being exceedingly high" (Wheeler, *The Indus Civilization*, p. 76).