Solomon's Seal

HB pencil & digital

 

Original just pencil sketch

 

 

Solomon's Seal, or King Solomon's Seal (genus Polygnatum) is plant that grows outside my front door, and is one of the first to come out with full leaves and lovely little flowers in spring. I have been eyeing it for a while with a mind to try and capture those graceful upturned leaves and those delicate little groups of white flowers. I had some fun getting the shapes down, and then even more fun with creating a colored image in photoshop (top)!

 

This plant also has an intriguing name, which prompted me to do some reasearch.

 

According to Wikipedia, a seal is "a device for making an impression in wax, clay, paper, or some other medium, including an embossment on paper, and is also the impression thus made." Interestingly, "The seal-making device is also referred to as the seal matrix or die."

 

In many ancient legends, the Seal of Solomon was a magical signet ring (a kind of personally unique ring with an engraved face, which could be used for seal-making, as a way to 'make your mark' on something, so to speak - show authenticity of a document, for example - at a time before personal signatures were developed and common) possessed of course by King Solomon himself. The ring/ seal was said to have great powers, such as granting King Solomon the ability to command demons, and also to speak with animals. Usually nowadays the ring is depicted with a pentagram or some form of the Star of David, with other circles or dots or intricacies sometimes added around the edges.

 

Apparently the roots of the King Solomon's Seal plant have many flat, circular scars, or impressions, on them marking where leaf stems have been in previous years. These purportedly cause the roots to look as though they have been stamped with a seal, or a royal seal...though no one knows quite why Solomon's name has been attached to this plant; apart from perhaps because his particular seal was so famous in the ancient legends. One article I read said that it is perhaps because Solomon was said to know about the diversities and virtues of plants and roots and so "set his seal upon (the Solomon's Seal plant) in testimony of its value to man as a medicial root."

 

Another cool thing about this plant is that apparently if you cut the roots open crossways, the cut root face possesses a pattern which looks very much like (a) Hebrew character(s)....this is another connection to King Solomon, who showed up in Mediaeval Jewish tales and who,"also called Jeddiah" (Wikipedia), "was, according to the Book of Kings, the Book of Chronicles, Hidden Words and the Qur'an a king of Israel and the son of David. The conventional dates of Solomon's reign are circa 970 to 931 BC."

 

"The Hebrew Bible credits Solomon as the builder of the First Temple in Jerusalem and portrays him as great in wisdom, wealth, and power, but ultimately as a king whose sin, including idolatry and turning away from Yahweh, leads to the kingdom's being torn in two during the reign of his son Rehoboam. Solomon is the subject of many other later references and legends, most notably in the 1st-century apocryphal work known as the Testament of Solomon. In later years, Solomon also came to be known as a magician and an exorcist, with numerous amulets and medallion seals dating from the Hellenistic period invoking his name." (Thanks, Wikipedia)

 

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Not to leave out a major important and interesting aspect of this plant, let me tell you that the root of Solomon's Seal has some medicinal properties for sure, in fact it has several medicinal actions; there are many ways you can prepare and use the root, it definitely has a wide variety of medicinal uses. You can read in detail about that here.