Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This hollow cast tube with a double-flanged base is topped by janiform faces with a vertically segmented molding that evokes thick hair. Pellet eyes, large pinched noses, and projecting lower jaws characterize the faces, which share flat, protruding ears. An associated iron rod—in good condition and probably modern—slides through the tube.
Janiform tubes may have served as finials or belonged to poles topped by other finials. A variety of related tubes is attributed to Luristan, but only one example was excavated (1). Objects of this type may be iconographically related to “Master of Animals” standards, examples of which have been excavated from Iron Age III tombs in Luristan (2). The style of facial rendering on the Harvard tube is also comparable to that of excavated objects (3).
NOTES:
1. See C. Goff, “Excavations at Baba Jan: The Pottery and Metal from Levels III and II,” Iran 16 (1978): 29-65, esp. 38 and 56, no. 26, fig. 14. Compare also O. W. Muscarella, Bronze and Iron: Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1988) 137 and 151-52, nos. 240-42; P. R. S. Moorey, Catalogue of the Ancient Persian Bronzes in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, 1971) 164-65, nos. 188-89, pls. 37-38; W. Nagel, Altorientalisches Kunsthandwerk (Berlin, 1963) no. 91, pl. 45; Man in the Ancient World: An Exhibition of Pre-Christian Objects from the Regions of the Near East, Egypt and The Mediterranean, exh. cat., Paul Klapper Library, Queen’s College, City University of New York (Flushing, NY, 1958) 15 and 35, no. 39; and G. Zahlhaas, Luristan: Antike Bronzen aus dem Iran, Ausstellungskataloge der Archäologischen Staatssammlung 33 (Munich, 2002) 118-19, nos. 245-49.
2. See Moorey 1971 (supra 1) 164; Muscarella 1988 (supra 1) 137; L. Vanden Berghe, “La nécropole de Bani Surmah, aurore d’une civilizations du bronze,” Archéologia 24 (1968): 52-63, esp. 52; and id., “Excavations in Pusht-i Kuh (Iran): Tombs Provide Evidence on Dating ‘Typical Luristan Bronzes,’” Archeology 24 (1971): 263-71, esp. 266-68.
3. See L. Vanden Berghe, “Recherches archéologiques dans le Luristan: Sixième Campagne, 1970. Fouilles à Bard-i Bal et à Pa-yi Kal,” Iranica Antiqua 10 (1973): 1-79, esp. 48, pl. 23.2.
Amy Gansell
