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A dark metal figure of a goat with rope harness detail on body and neck.

This is a figure of a goat made in dark metal with mottled green discoloration on the surface. The face and a harness around the goat's neck and back are finely detailed. The goat's beard extends and connects to its chest, creating a loop. the right hind leg of the figure has been torn about midway down, and the metal has peeled back to show a hollow interior. There are small, traingular protrusions coming straight down from the bottom of the figure's feet.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1949.92
Title
Wild Goat
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture, statuette
Date
7th-5th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Iran
Period
Achaemenid period
Culture
Iranian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/311128

Location

Location
Level 3, Room 3440, Ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Art, Ancient Middle Eastern Art in the Service of Kings
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
10.5 x 8.1 x 2.5 cm (4 1/8 x 3 3/16 x 1 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Bronze:
Cu, 91.4; Sn, 7.57; Pb, 0.42; Zn, 0.02; Fe, 0.11; Ni, 0.07; Ag, 0.05; Sb, 0.08; As, 0.27; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, 0.012; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001

J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The patina is green with brown encrustations, some of which may be iron corrosion products. The goat is intact, including the tangs on the hooves, except for casting flaws on the hindquarters and proper back right leg. These casting flaws reveal what appears to be black core material.

The goat was cast by the lost-wax process with surface details created on the wax model. Tool marks on the iron deposits on the breast are modern.


Henry Lie

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
M. Manoochehrian, April 11, 1940, sold; to Joseph Brummer collection, New York, NY, (by 1940, inv. no. N4549), sold; [through Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, sale 1069, May 1949, lot 108] sold; to Fogg Art Museum, 1949.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Grace Nichols Strong Memorial Fund
Accession Year
1949
Object Number
1949.92
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Phyllis Ackerman, Guide to the Exhibition of Persian Art, exh. cat., Iranian Institute (New York, NY, 1940), p. 302, no. G.
  • George M. A. Hanfmann and Donald P. Hansen, "Hittite Bronzes and Other Near Eastern Figurines in the Fogg Art Museum", Türk Arkeoloji Dergisi (1956), Vol. 6, No. 2, 41-58, pp. 56-57, no. 7, figs. 11, 12, 13d.
  • Edward Lee Bockman Terrace, The Art of the Ancient Near East in Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston, MA, 1962), no. 45.
  • David Gordon Mitten and Amy Brauer, Dialogue with Antiquity, The Curatorial Achievement of George M. A. Hanfmann, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1982), p. 17, no. 72.

Exhibition History

  • [Teaching Exhibition], Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, 11/01/1972 - 01/01/1973
  • Dialogue with Antiquity: The Curatorial Achievement of George M.A. Hanfmann, Fogg Art Museum, 05/07/1982 - 06/26/1982
  • 32Q: 3440 Middle East, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project
  • 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