CIRCA 6TH-4TH CENTURY B.C.

Details

A EURASIAN BRONZE MIRROR
CIRCA 6TH-4TH CENTURY B.C.
The cast ovular disk with a finlike projection at the top of the flanged rim, the reverse with a stylized horse in raised relief, facing right and leaning back on its legs, the long cylindrical handle terminating in a loop
10 ¼ in. (26 cm.) long

Provenance

with Manoutchehr Soleiman Aaron, Tehran, 1962.
Samuel Dubiner (1914-1993), Tel Aviv, acquired from the above, 1962; thence by descent.

Lot Essay

This type of mirror, created by the nomadic inhabitants of the Steppes in the mid 1st millennium B.C., is characterized by a flanged rim and the reverse side decorated in raised linear relief with a depiction of highly stylized animals. For a similar example, no. 213 in G. Ortiz, The George Ortiz Collection, and for another with four standing ungulates including an ibex, a horse, a bovine and a Bactrian camel see no. 167, in E. Bunker, Nomadic Art of the Eastern Eurasian Steppes: The Eugene V. Thaw and Other Notable New York Collections.

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