A MONUMENTAL BRONZE LURISTAN BOWL, WITH EMBOSSED FELINE, CIRCA LATE 2ND-EARLY 1ST MILLENNIUM B.C.

拍品描述

A MONUMENTAL BRONZE LURISTAN BOWL, WITH EMBOSSED FELINE, CIRCA LATE 2ND-EARLY 1ST MILLENNIUM B.C. Of shallow circular form, raised from a single sheet of bronze with slightly irregular rim, the interior dominated by a large feline worked in high repoussé from the reverse. The animal is shown in profile with the head turned outward to face the viewer, the muzzle broad and frontal, the eyes rendered as deep circular depressions flanking a pronounced triangular nose. The body is modelled with heavy shoulders and haunches, the forelegs drawn beneath the chest and the hind legs extended, terminating in schematically indicated paws. The surface carries a dense cuprite and malachite patina in strong turquoise and green tones, with localised deposits of azurite blue and areas of ochreous encrustation across the field. The reading of the beast as a lion, or a generalised great cat, is consistent with the predominant animal vocabulary of Luristan bronzework, in which the feline occupies a place alongside the ibex, the stag, and the composite quadruped as an emblem of predatory power. The frontal presentation of the head against a body shown in profile is a compositional convention widespread in the ancient Near East, from Elamite and early Iranian metalwork through to the guardian felines of later Mesopotamian palace reliefs. Here the device is used to confront the viewer directly, so that the animal within the bowl seems to rise from the vessel's ground toward the observer looking down into it. The Luristan bronzes, produced in the valleys of the Zagros mountains in western Iran across the late second and earlier first millennium B.C., constitute one of the great corpora of ancient metalwork. The great majority are small, portable objects: horse-bits, standards, pins, and finials associated with a semi-nomadic pastoral culture whose burials have yielded these bronzes in quantity. Sheet-metal vessels on the scale of the present bowl are considerably scarcer than the cast bronzes, and their survival at this diameter is unusual. The technique here is repoussé raised from behind, requiring a controlled dispersal of stress across a single sheet without splitting, and the animal has been modelled with the confidence of a workshop practised in large-format hammered work. The material itself carries weight in this context. Copper alloys were the prestige medium of the Zagros highland cultures, and the metallurgical tradition of Luristan drew on ore sources that placed the region among the significant bronze-producing zones of the ancient Iranian plateau. A vessel of this size represents a substantial commitment of metal and skilled labour, and would have functioned in a ceremonial or votive register rather than as ordinary household ware. This bowl exemplifies the sculptural ambition of Luristan sheet-metalwork at its largest scale, where the feline is not applied as ornament to a vessel but instead inhabits it, converting the bowl into a ground for a single monumental image. Its survival at this diameter, with the repoussé animal intact and the patina undisturbed, places it among the more substantial examples of the tradition. Dimensions: Diameter approximately 55 cm.

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