A fantastic Near Eastern bronze Master of Animals finial, c. 850 – 650 BC, with original support mount, the anthropomorphic tube flanked by rampant animals. The two human faces on the tube, one at the top, one at the center, with prominent nose and ears. The central figure grasps the necks of the flanking beasts and raised lines indicated the multiple collars worn around the neck and cross bands on the chest, the girdle below the central head decorated with horizontal ridges. The flanking animals with gaping jaws, cock’s combs, and prominent eyes, a cock’s head springs from the lower part of the neck on either side facing outward, and the haunches are bare, with thin attenuated legs and long curled tails. The modeling of this piece has a delicacy and flamboyance which distinguishes it from others commonly scene and it sits atop what appears to be the original bottle neck support. Finial H: 6 7/8 in (17.6cm); Height with support: 15 ¼ in (38.8cm). Cf. P.R.S. Moorey, Catalogue of the Ancient Persian Bronzes in the Ashmolean Museum. (Oxford, 1971), p. 157, no. 178 (pl. 34, no. 178) for a nearly identical example; Ex New York City private collection.

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