Sassanid Seals in China

Seals are of the most valuable things that enjoy a long history. According to the archaeological evidences, their antiquity goes back to the 6th century BC. As it comes out of the documents, the seals have experienced many changes during the historical periods, in a way that their designs, their shapes, their colors and the words or signs inscribed on them have been the subject of changes based on the conditions of times, and each of these alterations holds complex concepts. Numerous applications such as administrative, political, economic, religious, judicial, etc. are imaginable for seals. So, the analysis and interpretation of their alterations can make some of the political, social, economic, religious, cultural and linguistic aspects of each historical period clear, and due to the scope of obtained data in several areas, it has been tried in present study to clarify some of its aspects through examining a newly-discovered seal in China to find out what kind of data it contains and what it was used for? Why kings, rulers and even other people used it? The preliminary studies have been conducted in the field of graphology show that this valuable tool belongs to the Sassanid era, however its exact function is unknown.