Head of a pin: seated figure with cap

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This is a cast pin in the form of a male figure, as suggested by the slight bulge at the front of his thick neck. The figure has a very large head, with a prominent nose, puffy cheeks, pointed chin, and thick brow. He wears a beret over his wavy hair. He has a tiny, squatting body, and his feet rest on either side of the top of the pin’s shaft, much of which no longer survives. The figure itself is made of copper, while the shaft of the pin is bronze. This pinhead was excavated at Surkh Dum, a settlement site in Luristan in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran. It was part of a hoard of objects buried beneath the floor of a structure interpreted as a sanctuary; thus the objects were probably offerings made for a god. Such pins were probably used to fasten clothing and as objects of adornment in their own right. The style and imagery of this figure are unparalleled. Although many stylized human figures made of bronze have been attributed to Luristan, this is one of the only excavated examples. That it looks nothing like a canonical Luristan bronze suggests either that it was made elsewhere and imported, or that Luristan bronzes themselves come from somewhere else.

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