Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
The head of this stag is in the shape of a rounded trapezoid, and its muzzle is blunt with an incised line representing the mouth. No eyes are indicated, but small ears flank the face, protruding from the sides of the head below the antlers. The antlers are relatively naturally proportioned, and each has three vertical points that terminate in a crescent formation, which adds two more points to each. This figurine has a sturdy upper body supported by delicate, slim legs. At the base of the neck, it is pierced by a small hole just large enough for a wire to pass through.
The small upper body piercing, relatively robust form, and inclusion of details such as ears and a mouth line recall the characteristics of a zebu in the Harvard collection (1978.504). It is possible that these northwestern Iranian objects belong to the same stylistic group, or are even derived from the same workshop. Interestingly, these pieces were purchased together—evidence that they may have been retrieved from the same unknown site.
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 1978.505 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
