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Lot Essay
The majority of Urartian bronzes are either attachments from thrones or cauldrons and arms and armour - including helmets and sheet bronze belts, quivers and plaques. Surviving Urartian objects and small-scale bronze figures are rare: this stand is a rare example of a solid cast object.
The draped female figure stands with an object clasped tight in both hands, on a curving tripod structure, on top of a triangular base with three turned legs. The details are very finely incised, with the wavy fringes reminiscent of the bronze figure standing on bulls in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. no. 50.163, O. W. Muscarella, Bronze and Iron Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988, pp. 429-433, no. 577), whilst the narrow borders with circular decoration around the v-neck and the edges of the robe are similar to the dress of the ivory winged demon in the British Museum, inv. no. 118953. Her rigid stance and angularity can all be found in a standing bronze male figure now in the British Museum, inv. no. 91147. Her horizontally striated hair can be seen in various Urartian bronze cauldron attachments with female busts, and on a few sheet bronze votive plaques that include standing female offrants, cf. H.-J. Kellner, Urartu, ein wiederentdeckter Rivale Assyrians, Munich, 1976, p. 57, no. 54.
The curved legs beneath the figure find a parallel in a larger candelabrum in the Hamburg Museum, cf. B. B. Piotrovskii, Urartu, The Kingdom of Van and its Art, London, 1967, p. 35, no. 20.
The draped female figure stands with an object clasped tight in both hands, on a curving tripod structure, on top of a triangular base with three turned legs. The details are very finely incised, with the wavy fringes reminiscent of the bronze figure standing on bulls in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. no. 50.163, O. W. Muscarella, Bronze and Iron Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988, pp. 429-433, no. 577), whilst the narrow borders with circular decoration around the v-neck and the edges of the robe are similar to the dress of the ivory winged demon in the British Museum, inv. no. 118953. Her rigid stance and angularity can all be found in a standing bronze male figure now in the British Museum, inv. no. 91147. Her horizontally striated hair can be seen in various Urartian bronze cauldron attachments with female busts, and on a few sheet bronze votive plaques that include standing female offrants, cf. H.-J. Kellner, Urartu, ein wiederentdeckter Rivale Assyrians, Munich, 1976, p. 57, no. 54.
The curved legs beneath the figure find a parallel in a larger candelabrum in the Hamburg Museum, cf. B. B. Piotrovskii, Urartu, The Kingdom of Van and its Art, London, 1967, p. 35, no. 20.