Ornament with back-to-back lions

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This gold applique depicts two rampant lions back to back with their noses touching and tails intertwined. The lions’ feet are placed on the outer edge of the applique, which is bordered by three thick lines of gold. The lions’ mouths are open with their tongues sticking out. Their manes are rendered as thick lines radiating from the backs of their heads. Some musculature is indicated on their bodies with incised lines. This applique was made by hammering a single sheet of gold and cutting out the openwork parts. It would have been attached originally to clothing, along with many other similar appliques. Some of the reliefs from Persepolis depicting the Persian king show decorations on his robe that are probably meant to represent appliques like this. Lions, signifying strength and raw power, were a popular feature of Achaemenid art, especially royal iconography.

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