Plaque with horned animal

Unknown

ca. 8th–7th century BCE · Bronze · Ancient Near Eastern Art

This bronze plaque has an image of a horned recumbent animal, possibly an ibex. The image is surrounded by a border of raised dots. The plaque was hammered from a single sheet of bronze. It has no attachment holes, making it unclear what purpose it served. Possibly it was made as a votive. This plaque was excavated at Surkh Dum, a settlement site in Luristan in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran. It was found in a structure interpreted as a sanctuary and was thus probably an offering to a god. The ibex is a distinctly Iranian motif, as they are native to the Zagros Mountains of western Iran, but did not live, for example, on the plains of Mesopotamia. Thus they are a marker of the unique, mountain identity of the people living in western Iran during the Iron Age.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 8th–7th century BCE

Medium

Bronze

Culture

Iran

Department

Ancient Near Eastern Art

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1943