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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1978.505
Title
Stag with Long Antlers
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture, statuette
Date
early 10th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Iran
Period
Iron Age II
Culture
Iranian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304237

Location

Location
Level 3, Room 3440, Ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Art, Ancient Middle Eastern Art in the Service of Kings
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
7 x 6.5 x 4.6 cm (2 3/4 x 2 9/16 x 1 13/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Bronze:
Cu, 90.22; Sn, 8.06; Pb, 0.52; Zn, 0.5; Fe, 0.08; Ni, 0.05; Ag, 0.06; Sb, 0.1; As, 0.4; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, 0.013; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001
J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The patina is green with areas of red and brown. There is a c. 5-mm loss to the proper left front leg. The surface of the break was ground flat, showing the cross-section. The end of the proper right leg has a restoration of similar length, suggesting possible lengthening. Modern grinding, similar to that on the left front leg, is present on the tips of the two hind legs.

The figure is a solid lost-wax cast. The body is pierced at the hips and shoulders. The holes appear to have been drilled in the metal, as indicated by their circularity and linearity and by the fact that they bisect spherical porosities on the interior metal.


Tony Sigel (submitted 1999)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Private collection, gift; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1978.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Anonymous Gift
Accession Year
1978
Object Number
1978.505
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This stag figurine is slim and has a substantial set of antlers. Tilted slightly to the right, the head is shaped like a long, narrow triangle. The antler’s first two points project vertically above the face. Two more backward-curving points are asymmetrically positioned along both antlers; each point terminates in a four-point double crescent formation. The upper right point at the end of the right antler has broken off. The front and hindquarters are pierced by holes c. 3 mm in diameter. A modern mounting element runs through the rear hole.

Harvard’s stag figurines probably represent male red or roe deer, wild species indigenous to the Caspian region of northwest Iran. These Asiatic deer, of which the red variety is larger, are known for their physical endurance, general robust nature, and environmental adaptability. Their most visually significant trait is their powerful antlers, which, shed and grown anew each year, are of maximum size and complexity when a deer is in its prime (1). A castrated fawn would never grow antlers, and those of an old stag would be short and simple. Thus, a buck bearing a large rack may be seen to epitomize sexual potency through his antlers, which are often used aggressively for fighting. Ancient Iranian deer figurines are consistently represented with exaggerated antlers, which may be interpreted as symbolizing ideal masculinity. Antlers are graceful sculptural elements, the stylization of which enhances the attractiveness of the figurines.

Stags are common in the artistic repertoire of northern Iran, where they are portrayed in a variety of media from the third millennium BCE through the Islamic period due to the long-established regional prominence of this animal. Deer figurines of the type represented by the Harvard pieces first appeared on the art market in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when they were acquired by museums and private collectors (2). According to dealers, these figurines had been discovered in the Caspian region of Iran. The systematic archaeological excavations that followed at the sites of Dailaman and Marlik produced several examples of these figurines from burial contexts (3). Archaeologists have dated these excavated pieces to c. 1000 BCE.

Both this example and 1978.506 are pierced, suggesting that they were worn as pendants or suspended in some other manner. It is not known whether they had merely a decorative function or fulfilled some other purpose.

NOTES:

1. See “True Deer (Family Cervidae)” in The Larousse Encyclopedia of Animal Life (New York, 1967) 596-601, esp. 596.

2. See E. L. B. Terrance, “Some Recent Finds from Northwest Persia,” Syria 39 (1962): 212-24, esp. 212-15; and R. Barnett, “A Review of Acquisitions 1955-62 of Western Asiatic Antiquities,” The British Museum Quarterly 26.3-4 (1963): 92-101, esp. 97, pl. 45a.

3. See T. Sono and S. Fukai, Dailaman III: The Excavations at Hassani Mahale and Ghalekuti 1964, The Tokyo University Iraq-Iran Archaeological Expedition Report 8 (Tokyo, 1968) 19-20 and 31-32, pl. 38; and E. O. Negahban, Marlik: The Complete Excavation Report, University Museum Monograph 87 (Philadelphia, 1996) 129-31, pls. 45-46.


Amy Gansell

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 3440 Middle East, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Related Works

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu