Bronze harness ring
Luristan culture, 10th-7th century BC
From Luristan, western Iran
This object is among a variety of elaborate metal
horse-trappings produced and used in Luristan. Such wheel-shaped
pieces, of which many survive, probably served as ornaments for the
horse's headstall. They are decorated at the top either with the
complete figure of a moufflon or more commonly, as here, just with
the head of a moufflon flanked by other beasts.
Virtually all such bronzes come from plundered cemeteries of
stone-built graves in the Luristan region. These vary considerably
in date, but are predominantly of the early first millennium BC. At
a number of sites, bronzes were also deposited in shrines.
The bronzes are cast using the lost-wax process. Most objects
are unique, but they are related in style and decoration to a range
of objects widely distributed in western Iran.
The bronze workers of Luristan excelled particularly in
producing decoration for horses. At this time, as Assyrian reliefs
make clear, cavalry was rapidly replacing chariotry as the main
mobile force in most Near Eastern armies. Throughout the Late
Assyrian period (about 1000-612 BC) many horses for the Assyrian
armies came from the plains of western Iran.
J. Curtis, Ancient Persia-1 (London, The British Museum Press, 2000)
P.R.S. Moorey, Ancient bronzes from Luristan (London, The British Museum Press, 1974)