NORTH-WESTERN IRAN, IRON AGE II-III, CIRCA 1000-650 B.C.

Details

A PIRAVEND BRONZE FEMALE WORSHIPPER
NORTH-WESTERN IRAN, IRON AGE II-III, CIRCA 1000-650 B.C.
Wearing a conical headdress, with large diamond-shaped head with circular eye holes, eyebrows above, a prominent triangular nose, stylized lips, and small round protruding ears, wearing a beaded necklace on the elongated neck, and two hoop earrings, both ancient but not belonging, with arms bent and raised in supplication, the torso with rounded breasts, standing on short legs with attachment loop behind
9 in. (22.8 cm.) high

Provenance

Charles Gillet (1879-1972), Lausanne; and thence by descent to his son, Renaud Gillet (1913-2001), Paris.

Exhibited

Trésors de L'ancien Iran, Musée Rath, Geneva, 8 June-25 September 1966.

Special notice

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Lot Essay

PUBLISHED:
Exhibition catalogue, Trésors de L'ancien Iran, Musée Rath, Geneva, 1966, p. 70, no. 124, pl. 26.

These bronze figures originate from the region of Piravend in north-western Iran, some 10 km north of Taq-e Bustan, which was extensively explored during the 1930s-1950s. Bronzes from this region are distinctive for their blue-green patina, as with the present lot. Female figures are most common, and their pose, with their arms raised on either side of their necks, palms open, may have been associated with childbirth, mourning or adoration. For a similar female figure with earrings and headdress cf. The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection of Ancient Near Eastern and Central Asian Art, Los Angeles County Museum, inv. no. M.76.97.742.

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