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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1995.1147
Title
Horse Pendant
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
pendant
Date
3rd century BCE-3rd century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Gilan (Iran)
Period
Parthian period
Culture
Parthian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304416

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Leaded bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
2.8 x 3.8 cm (1 1/8 x 1 1/2 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Leaded Bronze:
Cu, 90.23; Sn, 5.18; Pb, 4.3; Zn, 0.009; Fe, 0.17; Ni, 0.03; Ag, 0.07; Sb, less than 0.02; As, less than 0.10; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, 0.011; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001
J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The horse is a solid lost-wax cast, with all details apparently modeled in the wax. It is covered in light green and brown patina.


Tony Sigel (submitted 1999)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Nelson Goodman, Weston, MA, gift; to the Harvard University Art Museums, 1995.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Nelson Goodman
Accession Year
1995
Object Number
1995.1147
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
A small hole pierces this small horse figurine at the nape of the neck and emerges at the juncture of the forelegs, so that the horse could have been worn as a pendant. Its tubular rump is elongated and thickens toward the hindquarters and a stumpy tail. The flat, high-curved neck is set off sharply from the body; there is no detail on the head except for the two alert ears. The stick-like legs recall animals figurines of the late second and early first millennia BCE from the province of Gilan (see 1978.505 and 1978.506). However, the defined geometrical forms link this and related horse-shaped pendants more closely to a series of cosmetic sticks with animal finials, such as 1995.1144, which seem to have been used in the same area of northern Iran at a later point, perhaps in the Parthian period (1).

NOTES:

1. Compare S. Fukai, “Design of Horse during the Parthian Period: On a Cosmetic Utensil with Horse Design Excavated from the Gilan Province,” The Memoirs of the Institute of Oriental Culture 50 (1970): i, 1-20, esp. 18, fig. 23 (not perforated; Tehran University Collection) [in Japanese with an English summary]; Fukai (p. i) refers to a horse figurine excavated from a Parthian tomb. See also F. Kußmaul, ed., Das Tier in der Kunst Irans, exh. cat., Linden-Museum, Stuttgart (Schorndorf, 1972) nos. 82-83; P. R. S. Moorey, Ancient Bronzes from Luristan (London, 1974) 169-70, nos. 160-61; E. De Waele, Bronzes du Luristan et d’Amlash, Publications d’historie de l’art et d’archeologie de l’Université Catholique de Louvain 34 (Louvain-La-Neuve, 1982) 176-77, nos. 283-86, fig. 146; and O. W. Muscarella, Bronze and Iron: Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1988) 296-97, no. 423.


Susanne Ebbinghaus

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

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