Here's another nice early seal with an Annunciation scene and my writeup.
Samuel, patrikios (?). Byzantine lead seal (18mm, 6.93 gram) 6th century
The Annunciation: on the right, the
Mother of God seated left, holding
distaff in right hand; on the left, the archangel Gabriel raising
his right hand in a gesture of speech;
star above
Complex block
monogram CAMOVHΛ ΠATPIKIOV (?)
Apparently unpublished.
Cf. for other pre-Iconoclastic seals depicting the Annunciation:
Laurent,
Vatican 218;
Laurent, Corpus V.2 1083 bis; Zacos/Veglery 2951 and
Cotsonis, J., “Narrative Scenes on
Byzantine Lead Seals (Sixth-Twelfth Centuries): Frequency, Iconography, and Clientele” in Gesta
Vol. 48, No. 1 (2009) p. 55-86 (with additional references);
extremely fine and of the best pre-Iconoclastic
style.
In
his study of narrative scenes on
Byzantine seals, John
Cotsonis records 54 seals with imagery of the Annunciation. Of these, only 9 can be dated to pre-Iconoclastic times. The figures on these early Annunciation seals are shown standing, with the angel on the observer’s right. This seal presents a
rare iconographic variant of a seated Mary on the observer’s right. Some researchers have suggested that the position on the right reflects a position of higher importance and prestige, and therefore that the reversal of the positions of Mary and Gabriel in early
Christian art reflect her growing prestige within
Christian orthodoxy. Indeed, in post-Iconoclastic times, the position of Mary on the observer’s right becomes the norm. Another prominent feature in early Annunciation scenes is the narrative element that Mary was spinning at the time of her encounter with Gabriel (which is not in the Canonical gospels but in the protoevangelion of
James). Most early depictions of the Annunciation prominently feature the
distaff,
thread and a basket of purple yarn. This seal does not show the basket, but Mary does seem to be holding a
distaff.