“Seal of Solomon” is a name attached to several objects and drawings. An eleventh-century paper scroll in the Met is a useful starting point because it has a date, medium, and six-pointed star in context.
- Source tradition
- Medieval and later Islamic objects
- Object or edition
- Met object 1978.546.32
- Descriptive label
- Talismanic motif
A star inside an object
The Met’s eleventh-century Egyptian talismanic scroll surrounds a six-pointed Seal of Solomon with miniature Kufic religious text for an amulet box. Related hexagram seals occur on scroll, blade, and wood panel. This specific tradition neither belongs to the historical Solomon nor names every hexagram everywhere.
Five points, six points, and a shifting label
Even the number of points is not a safe universal rule for the phrase. A British Museum record for a child’s tunic notes a five-pointed pendant described as Solomon’s seal, while the Met’s eleventh-century scroll uses a six-pointed star. The records refer to separate objects, places, and dates; one cannot be silently substituted for the other. A six-pointed star is also used as the Star of David in Jewish settings, so context and community matter before assigning a label. A modern grimoire diagram bearing Solomon’s name is another line of transmission again. The name invokes legendary authority, but a museum object must be read in its own material and religious setting.
The name across different objects
The Met scroll, object 1978.546.32, is paper with ink; it is not a metal ring or a manuscript pentacle. Its block-printed technique is part of its eleventh-century story. Seals in the Key of Solomon or Ars Goetia come from different manuscript and print traditions. A visual resemblance can prompt comparison, but it is not proof of an unbroken lineage or of a supernatural protective effect. Hamsa pendants and magic-square discs show other ways that marked objects traveled and acquired meaning.