A retrospective study on the comparison between cypriot cylinder seal compositions and drawing art compositions

Abstract

The scope of this research is the cylinder seals exhibited in museums which are considered as archaeological works on the island of Cyprus. The compositions of the selected samples are studied retrospectively in order to compare them with drawing art compositions. The structure of the cylinder seals produced between 2000 BC, and 600 BC in Cyprus, produced in other cultures and those that are produced in other cultures and then imported to Cyprus but with additions made to them on the island are categorized and grouped according to their compositional structures. With this aim a total of 2 cylinder seals from the Paphos Archaeological Museum, 58 from The British Museum, 44 from The Cyprus Museum, 1 from the Morphou Archaeological and Natural Museum, 7 from the Larnaca Archaeological Museum, 3 from the Limassol Archaeological Museum and 68 pieces from The Metropolitan Museum were studied, with a total of 191 pieces. The working areas of the cylinder seals are studied, revealing a total of 20 main and 58 subgroups. In the study, it is determined that the sculptures from different artists were scraped on different kinds of stones. On these compositions, the main scene covers a large space on the cylinders and the figures on this scene are larger sized. It is determined that in the designs of the scrapers, the measurement, rate, perspective, golden ratio and planning was not taken into close consideration. It is also identified that the effect of commercial relations and environmental cultures are reflected on these designs. Additionally, these designs have similarities to today's open composition designs.