From the early civilizations of the near East descended the carving of vessels and small statues in Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome and subsequent Western art, and also Sassanian Persia; however it is not very significant in the art of ancient Egypt, outside jewellery, as alabaster was a more common material. The jade signet ring of Tutankhamun has been called a "unique specimen" of Egyptian jade.If it is indeed jade, as seems to be the case. see Keene, 194-5 Among the seals of the Minoan civilization during the Aegean Bronze Age, the Pylos Combat Agate dated circa 1450 BC is considered one of the finest works of that era, depicting naturalistic details of the human body comparable to works of the much later Classical period.
