When cultures meet, mutual influences and cultural exchanges are unavoidable. Egypt’s contact with Syro-Palestine goes back to at least the Chalcolithic Period. Egypt was a major role player in the region throughout the Bronze Age. The discoveries at Ugarit have placed a lot of emphasis on possible Canaanite influences on the religion of ancient Israel. The purpose of this study is to investigate if cultural exchanges led to Egyptian religious concepts being accepted in Israel and Judah during the period 900-587 B.C.E. (Iron IIB and C). For this reason the iconography on contemporary seals was investigated. Symbols in ancient times, especially amongst illiterate societies, were important instruments in conveying ideas and concepts. The Hebrew Bible abounds with symbolism to illustrate the powers of Yahweh. Egyptian iconography on Hebrew seals, in particular seal amulets, has been regarded by most biblical scholars as mere decorations and the amulets regarded as ‘good luck’ charms. Seal amulets were important instruments of magical ritual in ancient Egypt, where there was no distinction between magic and religion. Biblical prohibitions against magic show that in Israel and Judah, it was regarded as a form of idolatry, thus religious rituals. An important factor to be considered is the influence of Phoenicia on the region during the Period. Close relationships seem to have existed between Phoenicia with the United Kingdom of Israel and later with the northern Kingdom of Israel. An investigation of Phoenician seals from the period revealed that Egyptian religious iconography was used by all levels of Phoenician society. They inter alia used Egyptian imagery to portray their own gods. Seals from Israel and Judah during Iron IIB and C indicate that Egyptian religious iconography was also used on seals by all levels of society in those kingdoms. Israel, due to its close proximity to Phoenicia, probably imported these images via Phoenicia. Judah, due to its isolation, probably got those images directly from Egypt. Some of these images may be ascribed to attempts to portray aspects of Yahweh’s powers. Others convey definite Egyptian religious messages. Egyptian influences on Israelite religion played a larger role than previously accepted. / Biblical Archaeology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Biblical Archaeology)

本論文以「黃牧甫生平及篆刻藝術之研究」為題目，旨在對其生平及篆刻藝術作系統整理和討論。黃牧甫（1849-1908/1909），安徽黟縣人，為晚清最重要的篆刻家之一。由於家庭濡染，自幼便對篆學產生興趣，八、九歲始習刻印。後因太平軍與清軍戰，家園被毀，困苦失學，雙親亦相繼離世，為補生計，被迫離鄉到江西南昌謀生，曾於照相館工作，後遷廣州，改以鬻書治印自給。黃牧甫為晚清集大成的印人，尤對廣東印壇產生源遠的影響，故被譽為「嶺南派」之初袓。 / 黃牧甫初宗「鄧派」鄧石如（1743-1805）、吳讓之（1799-1870），後服膺於趙之謙（1829-1884）的印學主張，取徑「印外求印」，故面貌多樣，印文體勢獨特。又取法漢印模式，講究完整光潔，運以衝刀，不作斷續刻劃，點劃乾淨俐落。尤精於章法，平正而不落呆板，自創一格，繼「鄧派」後於晚清印壇上別樹一幟。 / 在黃印的整理方面，本研究主要以「摹擬期」、「蛻變期」、「成熟期」作為分期，以便探討其不同時期的篆刻特質。據本研究所搜集，黃氏存世印蛻約有二千四百方。它們被整合分析，編成年譜，建構一個系統、完備的資料庫。其中印款資料更提供了珍貴的第一手資料，增補了歷史文獻上的不足。 / 黃牧甫一生治印不斷，作品極豐，然卻失散各地，難以匯集。幸而，其印譜的流傳卻相對豐富，最重要的要數黃氏生前自輯《般若波羅蜜心經印譜》、《黃牧甫自存印譜》及《黃穆甫印存續補》，故印貌得以保存，為後世留下重要的研究資料。當中《黃穆甫印存續補》所錄印拓，更對研究黃氏「成熟期」印風非常重要。由於此譜為海外孤本，且尚未見世，所以目前有關黃牧甫的著述，均未能涵蓋這部重要資料。然在此論文發表前，因得機緣而認識收藏家林章松先生，得其不吝嗇借出此譜作研究之用，確為本研究提供有力依據和借鑒。 / 黃牧甫為晚清重要的篆刻家，具相當高的研究價值，更是探究流派篆刻由傳統走向當代的關鍵人物，惜至今其系統研究卻極之匱乏。本論文將綜合歷史、文化、社會及藝術等不同角度，並借鑒相關學術領域的研究方法和成果，透過文獻及視覺分析，對黃牧甫的生平和篆刻藝術作全面考述，從而建立一份可靠的研究資料，令篆刻藝術史有更大的發展空間。 / Entitled “A Study of Huang Mufu’s Life and Seal Engraving Art, this paper aims to investigate his life and art of seal engraving. Huang Mufu (1849-1908/1909), born in Anhui Province, was one of the most important seal engravers in the late Qing dynasty. / Huang Mufu first learned from Deng Shiru (1743-1805) and Wu Rangzhi (1799-1870) of the Deng school, and later followed the thinking of “seeking artistic links for seal making of Zhao Zhiqian (1829-1884). Therefore, his seals took on various forms and his seal inscriptions were unique. He also drew on the pattern of seals of the Han dynasty, which pursued tidiness and smoothness and applied Swift knife to create clean and neat strokes. He created his own style that was peculiar in the late Qing dynasty and had far-reaching influence on the seal engraving community of Guangdong Province, so he was renowned as the originator of the Lingnan school. / Huang made seals throughout his life and left over rich works. According to the information collected from this research, Huang has about 2,400 seals, which have been analyzed, integrated and chronicled into a systematic and complete database. Many of his seal impressions and colophons provide rare firsthand information for this paper, and hoped to serve as important materials for later studies. Based on the collected sources, this study divided Huang’s career into the imitation, transmutation and maturation stages, in order to discuss his seals’ characteristics in different periods. / There has been an extreme scarcity of studies on this topic. Therefore, this paper made a comprehensive study which involved a survey of the primary and secondary literature on Huang Mufu’s life and career. An analysis of the relevant sources enables his career to be reconstructed on a sound chronological basis, and allows his work to be seen in its proper context. / This study also made an important contribution to a relatively little-studied area of the history of Chinese art. It corrected a number of misconceptions in previous studies and make up literature deficiencies. The aim is to provide a set of reliable data that allows further development of the history of seal engraving art. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / 劉浩敏. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 175-191) / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Liu Haomin. / Chapter 第一章 --- 導言 --- p.1 / Chapter 第二章 --- 晚清文化和黃牧甫的早年生活 / Chapter 第一節 --- 清代美學觀念的轉化 --- p.11 / Chapter 第二節 --- 晚清以前印壇概況 --- p.20 / Chapter 第三節 --- 黃牧甫早年生活考證 --- p.34 / Chapter 第三章 --- 黃牧甫篆刻特質和他僑寓廣州的生活 / Chapter 第一節 --- 黃牧甫篆刻的師承淵源 --- p.51 / Chapter 第二節 --- 名流關係對黃牧甫印風形成的影響 --- p.60 / Chapter 第三節 --- 黃牧甫成熟期印風的主要特色 --- p.90 / Chapter 第四章 --- 黃牧甫晚年生活及其印跡流佈和遺存 / Chapter 第一節 --- 晚年生活和卒年考證 --- p.110 / Chapter 第二節 --- 黃牧甫印壇角色 --- p.118 / Chapter 第三節 --- 存世印跡資料彙整 --- p.130 / Chapter 第五章 --- 黃牧甫存世印譜匯考 --- p.146 / Chapter 第六章 --- 結語 --- p.171 / 參考書目 --- p.175 / Chapter 附錄一 --- 參考圖錄 --- p.192 / Chapter 附錄二 --- 黃牧甫篆刻作品全集 --- p.293

Research into the depiction of cattle in Minoan Art ha'i concentrated on representations of interaction between men and cattle, in particular, the images of bull sports. This emphasis has detracted from other types of cattle imagery. In this thesis the representation of the cow and calf in Minoan glyptic is assessed. Discussion of representation and meaning are of equal value, as a full understanding of the potential meaning of an image is dependent upon a detailed knowledge of what is represented. Specific anatomical and behavioural details described in the images are therefore compared with known physiological and behavioural characteristics. The Bronze Age representations are found to be very accurate and detailed in their description of the relationship between the cow and calf. Both the aesthetic and social contexts of the image are discussed in detail. The majority of representations of cows and calves are found on seals and sealings. The size, shape and restrictions of the medium as well as the range of potential uses of the stones (administrative, amuletic, jewellery) are considered. Fauna! evidence from Bronze Age Crete and accounts of cattle in Linear B texts confirm the importance of bovines as an integral part of the agricultural system as well as providing evidence of the range of cattle exploited. In discussing the potential meaning of the image, the survey draws on Bronze Age Aegean, Near Eastern and Egyptian evidence and later Greek (in particular Cretan) examples. Evidence from unrelated societies in which the cow is prominent is used as evidence of the diversity of possible meaning. The thesis concludes that it is not possible to categorise the image as specifically religious or secular; the range of potential meanings reflect the importance of the animal in all aspects of Minoan society.

Cylinder seal impressions occur in many contexts in the ancient Near East. This disssertation focuses specifically on the function of sealing in the manipulation of state resources (land, labor, and goods) in second millennium B.C. Syria. The sources of information utilized in this study include textual references to sealing practices, sealed documents, bullae, and the seals themselves. The archives of Mari, Alalah, and Ugarit are particularly important as they provide textual and archaeological information on seals and sealing within the physical and institutional context of the palace, the center of state administration. Chapter 1 surveys the previous research on seals and sealing and briefly outlines Syrian geography and political history in the second millennium B.C. Chapter 2 examines the physical qualities of the seals--materials, methods of production, distribution and style. Chapter 3 addresses the problem of the physical and institutional context of seal use. A functional division between legal and administrative texts is reflected in the use of seals on them. On both types of documents, however, the use of a seal acknowledges the obligation of the sealer. The nature of that obligation varies with the contents of the text itself. Chapter 4 evaluates the use of seals on legal texts in palace archives. Most of these sealed documents record land grants. The historical trend in second millennium Syria is to an increasing involvement of heads-of-state in granting state land. Other sealed legal documents were kept in palace archives because the participants were in some way associated with the palace. Chapter 5 details the administrative use of seals at Mari. Receipts and expenditures are the most common sealed documents. The use of seals on these texts signals the acceptance by the sealer of responsibility for the goods or actions described therein. The conclusions (Chapter 6) summarize the differences in sealing practices in Mari, Alalah and Ugarit in light of the different historical circumstances and political needs of each state.