AN URARTIAN BRONZE TERMINAL

CIRCA LATE 9TH-EARLY 8TH CENTURY B.C.

Details

AN URARTIAN BRONZE TERMINAL
circa late 9th-early 8th century b.c.
Cylindrical in form, closed on one end, with an upper and lower register both incised with ten winged lion-bodied hybrid monsters and genii, the human-headed figures bearded or smooth-faced, five facing left, five facing right, each with a situla and a cone, each register between bands of lotus-bud chain and plain bands, a cuneiform inscription in a band below the upper register reading "Property of Ishpuini", the end incised with the bearded god-in-the-winged-and-tailed-ring mounted on a bull, in profile to the right, enclosed within two plain incised rings
8 in. (20.9 cm.) long

Lot Essay

Bronze cylinders like the present example are comparatively rare. They are usually considered to be terminals for the draught pole of a chariot. For a similar example see no. 26 in Merhav, (ed.), Urartu: A Metalworking Center in the First Millennium B.C.E.