Lot 77
77
TWO ACHAEMENID GOLD LION HEAD ATTACHMENTS
TWO ACHAEMENID GOLD LION HEAD ATTACHMENTS
TWO ACHAEMENID GOLD LION HEAD ATTACHMENTS
3 More
TWO ACHAEMENID GOLD LION HEAD ATTACHMENTS
6 More
THE VIDAL GOLD HOARD (lots 75 - 84)PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF NICOLAS KOTOULAKIS
TWO ACHAEMENID GOLD LION HEAD ATTACHMENTS

IRAN, CIRCA 5TH CENTURY B.C.

Details
TWO ACHAEMENID GOLD LION HEAD ATTACHMENTS
IRAN, CIRCA 5TH CENTURY B.C.
Each: 1 ¼ in. (2.6 cm.) high
Provenance
Reputedly excavated in Hamadan, Iran in 1920.
Maurice Vidal collection, New York, prior to July 1948.
Literature
A. Upham Pope, 'Recently Found Treasures of one of the World’s First and Greatest Empires: Achaemenid Gold Objects', in Illustrated London News, 17 July 1948, pp. 57-59.
Iran: pièces du Musée de Téhéran, du Musée du Louvre et de collections particulières, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Musée Cernuschi, 1948, pp. 36, no. 57.
M. T. Mustafavi, The Historical Monuments of Hamadan and a Chapter concerning Avicenna, Teheran, 1953, pp. 140-141.
Exhibited
Musée Cernuschi, Paris, Iran: pièces du Musée de Téhéran, du Musée du Louvre et de collections particulières, 23-31 July 1948.
Further details
US clients wishing to buy this lot, and any persons wishing to import it into the USA, should contact Christie’s prior to placing a bid. Due to current Iranian sanctions, transactions involving certain Iranian-origin property may require authorization from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to be shipped to the USA. Christie’s has an OFAC General License that enables these imports, subject to certain conditions and disclosures to OFAC. Please contact Christie’s for further information.

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Claudio Corsi
Claudio Corsi Specialist, Head of Department
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Lot Essay

These two lion heads, slightly different in terms of the details, most likely once served as bracelet terminals. The heads were likely made by pressing the sheet gold over a copper-alloy former. The penannular bracelet hoop would have been made of other materials, such as metal or glass. For a bronze former with a lion head, and a pair of blue glass bracelets with gold lion head terminals, see fig. 140 and no. 111 in Őzgen and Őztürk, Heritage Recovered, The Lydian Treasure, Istanbul, 1996.

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