IRAN, CIRCA EARLY 1ST MILLENNIUM B.C.

Details

A PIRAVEND BRONZE AND SILVER VOTIVE GROUP
IRAN, CIRCA EARLY 1ST MILLENNIUM B.C.
6 1/8 in. (15.6 cm.) high

Provenance

with Mahboubian Gallery, New York, acquired prior to 1972.

Special notice

US persons wishing to buy this lot, and any persons wishing to import it into the USA, are reminded that the USA generally prohibits activities with Iranian-origin “works of conventional craftsmanship” such as carpets, textiles, decorative objects, and scientific instruments. Christie’s has an OFAC General License that enables the import of such items into the USA and their purchase by US persons, subject to certain conditions. Please contact Christie’s for further information if you are a US person and/or wish to import this lot into the USA.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Claudio Corsi Specialist, Head of Department

ccorsi@christies.com +44 (0) 20 7389 2607

Lot Essay

'Piravend figurines' originate from a region of North-West Iran, around present-day Taq-e Bostan. They present a distinctive regional style and tend to represent free-standing human and semi-human figures, often with short limbs and horned headdresses or masks, possibly indicating their divine nature, cf. P.R.S. Moorey, Catalogue of the Ancient Persian Bronzes in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1971, pp. 168-170. In this unusual group a male figure, wearing a kilt and separately-made broad belt, appears to wrestle a smaller semi-human figure with horns to which he is tied with silver coils.

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