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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1992.256.125
Title
Bridle with Cheek Pieces Depicting Horses
Classification
Riding Equipment
Work Type
bit
Date
9th-8th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Luristan (Iran)
Period
Iron Age
Culture
Iranian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304581

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
9.1 x 8 cm (3 9/16 x 3 1/8 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Tracer
Alloy: Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin
Other Elements: lead, iron, silver, antimony, arsenic
Comments: The cheekpiece and the bit have the same elements.
K. Eremin, January 2014

Chemical Composition: EMP analysis from sample (right side), Bronze:
Cu, 93.62; Sn, 4.93; Pb, 0.01; Zn, 0.00; Fe, 0.04; Ni, 0.16; Ag, 0.03; Sb, 0.02; As, 0.07

EMP analysis from sample (left side), Bronze:
Cu, 93.64; Sn, 4.44; Pb, 0.02; Zn, 0.00; Fe, 0.00; Ni, 0.19; Ag, 0.04; Sb, 0.02; As, 0.07


T. Richardson, June 1999

Technical Observations: The patina is dark green and red. There is some porosity, and minor casting flaws in the head and neck of the horses are visible.

The object is a solid lost-wax cast. Each horse has a rounded head and raised prongs on the reverse that were formed with the original model. The tail, loops, collar, and raised area on the bit were added to the original wax model, as opposed to being formed in a mold. It is possible, however, that the main shape of each horse was modeled in a one-sided mold by pressing or pouring in wax, at which point the raised prongs and other features were added to the model, and then the model was cast. As such, the cheek pieces may have been produced using a combination of the indirect and direct lost-wax methods. There is no evidence of wear from the bit.


Tracy Richardson (submitted 1999)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Louise M. and George E. Bates, Camden, ME (by 1971-1992), gift; to the Harvard University Art Museums, 1992.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Louise M. and George E. Bates
Accession Year
1992
Object Number
1992.256.125
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
The cheek pieces of this horse bit are in the shape of walking horses. The bit is a square-sectioned rod, hammered and curled in opposite directions on the ends (20.8 cm long, 2.7 cm high at the end, 0.8 cm wide along the bar).

The horses (11.5 cm long, 8 cm high at the head) are mirror images of each other. They are shown walking in profile. They are rather stylized, with details modeled rather than incised. The heads are modeled on both sides. Each horse has pointed ears, a short mane with vertical lines, and a forelock. The eyes are raised circular dots, and the muzzle narrows and then flares at the nostrils. Some other objects, not clear what, are shown encircling the necks of the horses. The musculature is stylized. The right horse has its left foreleg forward, right back, right hindleg forward, left back; the left horse moves with the opposite legs. All four hooves connect to an irregular bar, which also connects to each horse’s thin, circular-sectioned tail. There is a hole in the torso of each horse through which the bit goes, which has a raised edge on the exterior. Above the shoulders and the hindquarters on each animal is a semicircular loop, for attachment of other elements of the harness.

The heads and lower legs of the horses are rendered in the round. The remaining sections on the interior sides of the horses are more schematic and generally concave. There are three spikes on the interior sides of the horses; one each below the semi-circular loops and a third on the lower forward edge of the central circular perforation.

Publication History

  • Tracy Richardson, "A Technical Study of Luristan Bronzes From Ancient Iran" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, June 1999), Unpublished, pp. 1-15 passim

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