Bracelet with animal terminals

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This bronze bracelet has terminals in the form of stylized animals. The animals have elongated snouts, open mouths, bulging eyes, long necks and extended forelegs. A ring emerges from the back of each. Although the animals are difficult to identify on account of their condition and stylized form, comparison with other bracelets and metal objects attributed to Luristan suggests that they are lions. This bracelet was excavated at Surkh Dum, a settlement site in Luristan in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran. It was part of a large hoard of objects buried beneath a doorjamb in a structure interpreted as a sanctuary; thus the objects were probably offerings made for a god. Lion imagery is a common feature in ancient Iranian art. In Elamite and Achaemenid art lions were associated with kingship. They also figure prominently in the bronzework that is frequently attributed to Luristan in the Iron Age, where they may symbolize the power of nature. Indeed, Luristan is a rugged region, and lions were thus an appropriate symbol of the challenges of living there.

Ancient Near Eastern Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art cares for approximately 7,000 works ranging in date from the eighth millennium B.C. through the centuries just beyond the emergence of Islam in the seventh century A.D. Objects in the collection were created by people in the area that today comprises Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean coast, Yemen, and Central Asia. From the art of some of the world's first cities to that of great empires, the department's holdings illustrate the beauty and craftsmanship as well as the profound interconnections, cultural and religious diversity, and lasting legacies that characterize the ancient art of this vast region.

Metropolitan Museum of Art