It is paradoxically at the height of the Mycenaean palaces that glyptic art loses its status as the principal form of relief art. The making of gold signet rings, whether on Crete or the mainland, ceases around the moment when the palace of Knossos is destroyed in 1370 bc; that of hard semi-precious sealstones stops shortly after, and does not go beyond the end of Late Helladic (LH) IIIA (J.-C. Poursat, in Driessen and Farnoux 1997, 387–90). No stylistic evolution can be discerned on seals discovered in later contexts.

Admittedly, palatial administrations still use sealing systems to manage what goods come in and out. At Knossos, the latest of its archival documents could date to c.1300 bc; subsequently, only a few sealings on jars exist (Krzyszkowska 2005, 216–17, 223–31).