Acts and resolves passed by the General Court
A session-laws volume issued by the Massachusetts General Court and published in Boston by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, with a date given as 1663 that does not fit its printed style. The four pictures are repeated woodcut-style versions of the state seal: a shield with a standing man holding a staff, a star, a bent arm with a sword above, and scrolled ribbons around the base. A designer could take from them a compact seal-and-shield layout that balances a central figure against symmetrical flourishes and a small floating emblem.
