Iran, Luristan / Pole Top: Gilgamesh with Two Animals / 800-600 B.C.Iran, Luristan
Pole Top: Gilgamesh with Two Animals
800-600 B.C.

View Larger Image

View Full Catalog Record Below



This image is one of over 108,000 from the AMICA Library (formerly The Art Museum Image Consortium Library- The AMICO Library™), a growing online collection of high-quality, digital art images from over 20 museums around the world. www.davidrumsey.com/amica offers subscriptions to this collection, the finest art image database available on the internet. EVERY image has full curatorial text and can be studied in depth by zooming into the smallest details from within the Image Workspace.
 
Preview the AMICA Library™ Public Collection in Luna Browser Now

  • Cultures and time periods represented range from contemporary art, to ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian works.
  • Types of works include paintings, drawings, watercolors, sculptures, costumes, jewelry, furniture, prints, photographs, textiles, decorative art, books and manuscripts.

Gain access to this incredible resource through either a monthly or a yearly subscription and search the entire collection from your desktop, compare multiple images side by side and zoom into the minute details of the images. Visit www.davidrumsey.com/amica for more information on the collection, click on the link below the revolving thumbnail to the right, or email us at amica@luna-img.com .



Creator Nationality: Iran, Luristan
Creator Name-CRT: Iran, Luristan
Title: Pole Top: Gilgamesh with Two Animals
View: Full View
Creation Start Date: -80
Creation End Date: -60
Creation Date: 800-600 B.C.
Object Type: Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
Materials and Techniques: bronze
Dimensions: Overall: 8 x 2 7/8 x 15/16 in. (20.32 x 7.3 x 2.38 cm.)
AMICA Contributor: Dallas Museum of Art
Owner Location: Dallas, Texas, USA
ID Number: 1963.21
Credit Line: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Art Association Purchase
Rights: http://www.DallasMuseumofArt.org
Context: This bronze figurine, usually described as a standard finial, consists of a composite human figure and animals. The upper part of the figure holds two mythological animals of lion-monster form in the "master of animals" position. The lower half of the figure includes a repeated human head flanked by the heads of cocks, which form the tails of the upper animals. The entire image is supported by a form resembling animal legs, which in turn rests upon a tripod-like structure with lugs. The work is solid cast in one piece.There are a number of parallels to this figure, some quite close, such as a piece in a private collection in Brussels, illustrated by Edith Porada in "The Art of Ancient Iran" (Porade 1965, 81, pl. 19). Like the axe, animal-headed pin, and horse bit from Luristan in the Dallas Museum of Art collections, this work is part of a large body of material from western Iran, about which there is little concrete information. Who the people of Luristan were in antiquity, what language they spoke, and whether they were nomads or sedentary villagers are unanswerable questions. Given the quality and output of their bronze work, they seem to have been at least partly settled people, and it is clear that horses played an important part in their culture. The heraldic figure in this example has been interpreted as Gilgamesh, the hero of a Mesopotamian epic. Since the "master of animals" motif occurred in Mesopotamia, this may be so, but without any written documents it is hard to know the meaning of the wealth of human and animal imagery in Luristanian art. Roman Ghirshman interpreted the figure as Sraosha, the early Iranian god of justice (Ghirshman 1964, 44 ff.). Whether these figures really were carried on standard poles in processions is not clear. Some of them were buried in graves, as were other major types of Luristan bronzes."Gods, Men, and Heroes," page 34
AMICA ID: DMA_.1963.21
AMICA Library Year: 2003
Media Metadata Rights:

AMICA PUBLIC RIGHTS: a) Access to the materials is granted for personal and non-commercial use. b) A full educational license for non-commercial use is available from Cartography Associates at www.davidrumsey.com/amica/institution_subscribe.html c) Licensed users may continue their examination of additional materials provided by Cartography Associates, and d) commercial rights are available from the rights holder.

Home | Subscribe | Preview | Benefits | About | Help | Contact
Copyright © 2007 Cartography Associates.
All rights reserved.