17608
This piece has sold.
See available Near Eastern pieces →Central Asia, Iron Age, circa 1000–650 BCE.
Cast as a narrow vertical standard surmounted by a heraldic group of opposed horned animals. The lower section forms a looped, openwork shaft with stylized, nodular projections suggesting highly abstracted figures, rising to a circular opening and flaring into two splayed, branch‑like horn arrangements that terminate in multiple knops, echoing antlers or elaborate ibex horns.
Rich dark brown metal with areas of green and turquoise cuprite and malachite patination, with light encrustation in recesses and old mineral adhesion consistent with long burial. Slight losses and surface roughness to extremities; overall stable with good ancient surfaces and pleasing variegated patina.
Size: 5-5/8 in (14.3 cm) H, plus custom display base.
Originally the finial of a standard or staff, part of the corpus of Luristan bronzes associated with ritual or ceremonial equipment, often featuring “Master of Animals” and heraldic animal motifs
Compare, for example, a related Luristan bronze standard finial with opposed horned animals in the collection of LACMA, as well as similar openwork ‘Master of Animals’ standards in the Cleveland Museum of Art and other major collections, all dated to the early 1st millennium BCE
Ex New York Collection
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