100% of the Buyer's Premium of all lots sold in this auction will be donated to Community Food Share by Artemis Gallery. $1.00 = 3 meals!

**First Time At Auction**

Ancient Near East, northwestern Iran, Luristan, ca. 1000 to 600 BCE. A beautiful cast-bronze tubular finial with a central vertical drill hole in the form of "master of animals". Modeled symmetrically on both sides, the lovely piece displays a broad shouldered figure at the bottom standing atop slender legs with a bulbous torso, arms at its sides. The figure's tubular head sits atop a long composite collar of rectangular and spherical beads and exhibits a prominent nose, round eyes, and a coffee-bean shaped mouth. A smaller zoomorphic figure sits on the head of the first, posed with his bent arms outstretched below a decorative collar, a sizable nose, annular eyes, an arched brow, and tab-like ears topped with a mushroom-shaped headdress. A wonderful example of the form with a beautiful green patina! Size: 2.25" L x 0.375" W x 7.875" H (5.7 cm x 1 cm x 20 cm); 8.75" H (22.2 cm) on included custom stand.

Perhaps used for attachment to a pole or placement at an altar, the true function of these types of standards is unknown. Suggestions for their interpretation have ranged from the religious - depictions of deities, idols, and talismans; to the utilitarian - parts of chariots or used in funerary rituals.

Provenance: ex-Estate of Eldert Bontekoe, Pegasi Numismatics, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, acquired before 2000

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#158128

Repaired from several pieces, some with new material. Some crack lines and paint still visible. Missing arms of top figure, as well as both animals' heads directly beneath. Otherwise, very nice with gorgeous green patina.

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