Cultural transactions : an introduction to medieval seals from a global perspective / Brigitte Miriam Bedos-Rezak -- Seals as conceptual and ritual tools in Chinese Buddhism, ca. 600-1000 CE / Paul Copp -- Imprinting powers : the astrological seal and its doctrinal meanings in the Latin West / Nicolas Weill-Parot -- A medieval solution to an early modern problem? : the royal animal seals of Jambi / Annabel Teh Gallop -- Expressing new rule : seals from early Islamic Egypt and Syria, 600-800 CE / Petra M. Sijpesteijn -- The formation of urban identity on Byzantine seals / Claudia Sode -- The cloth seal : a mark of quality, identification or taxation? / John Cherry -- Archaeology and sigillography in Northern Europe / Michael Andersen -- Medieval treaties and the diplomatic aesthetic / Jessica Berenbeim.