Pendant with a kneeling male

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This thin bronze sheet features a male figure in repousse facing forward. He has bulging eyes, pointed ears and a beard. No other details of his body are shown. One attenuated leg with bent knee is depicted; it is unclear whether the figure is meant to be seated or kneeling, since the bottom of the sheet is missing. The figure holds palm fronds in each hand. There are rosettes (or some other floral element) in the background. There is a rolled loop at the top of the sheet, indicating that it is a pendant. This pendant 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 figure on the pendant has been interpreted as a fertility god.

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