Ornament in the shape of a ram's head

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This gold applique is in the form of a ram’s head, facing to the left. The ram’s nostrils, mouth, eyes, chin hair and ears are incised, and its neck is decorated with granulation. A short horn rises from the top of its head and curves forward. The back side of the applique has two loops for attaching it to fabric. This applique was made by hammering a single sheet of gold and adding controlled drops of molten gold to the neck to form the granulation. It would have been attached originally to clothing, along with many other similar appliques. Goats, specifically wild mountain goats, were an important aspect of ancient Persian iconography. Unlike Mesopotamia, which is flat, Iran has many mountains, and mountain goats, with their distinctive curved horns, became important markers of Iranian identity, even before the region came to be known as ‘Iran.’

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