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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1991.31
Title
Standing Male Wearing a Kilt
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Votive Statuette or Idol
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture, statuette
Date
10th-9th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Luristan (Iran)
Period
Iron Age
Culture
Iranian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/303847

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
13 cm (5 1/8 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Bronze:
Cu, 86.89; Sn, 12.6; Pb, 0.36; Zn, 0.005; Fe, 0.06; Ni, 0.04; Ag, 0.03; Sb, less than 0.05; As, less than 0.10; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, 0.013; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001
J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The patina is a dark blackish green. The object is a solid lost-wax cast. The back of the figure is crudely finished and shows evidence of manipulation of the surface of the wax model. The three-pronged base is the remains of a pouring channel for the molten metal. The figure was modeled directly using sheets, rods, and added lumps of wax, and the decorative incisions were made in the wax model.


Tracy Richardson (submitted 1999)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Ex Norbert Schimmel Collection, New York; bequest to the Harvard University Art Museums, 1991.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of the Schimmel Foundation, Inc.
Accession Year
1991
Object Number
1991.31
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
Standing atop a three-pronged base, this stylized human figure wears a short belted triangular kilt, which suggests that he is male (1). His bare torso has wide-set nipples and tapers from his straight, broad shoulders to a slim waist. His arms are set akimbo, and his hands rest atop his belt. His legs are slightly splayed and have articulated knees and toes. His round eyes consume most of his triangular face, which is distinguished by a long protruding nose and small mouth. His hair is rendered as a single relief element that terminates in round coils, evoking ears, at either side of the face. The reverse of this relatively flat statuette is undecorated, but the buttocks are modeled.

Figures of similar style (for example, 1943.1162) are depicted on various types of bronze objects attributed to early first millennium BCE Luristan, but the provenience of these works is not confirmed (2).

NOTES:

1. See Man in the Ancient World: An Exhibition of Pre-Christian Objects from the Regions of the Near East, Egypt and The Mediterranean, exh. cat., Paul Klapper Library, Queen’s College, City University of New York (Flushing, NY, 1958) 15, no. 35; and O. W. Muscarella, Ancient Art: The Norbert Schimmel Collection (Mainz, 1974) no. 147.

2. See P. R. S. Moorey, Catalogue of the Ancient Persian Bronzes in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, 1971) nos. 178, 187, and 351, pls. 34, 37, and 55.


Amy Gansell

Publication History

  • Man in the Ancient World: An Exhibition of Pre-Christian Objects from the Regions of the Near East, Egypt, and the Mediterranean, exh. cat., Paul Klapper Library (Flushing, NY, 1958), no. 35.
  • Dr. Dietrich von Bothmer, Ancient Art from New York Private Collections: Catalogue of an Exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY, 1961), no. 52.
  • Roman Ghirshman, Sept Mille Ans d'Art en Iran: Petit Palais, Octobre 1961 - Janvier 1962, exh. cat., Association Française d'action artistique (Paris, 1961), p. 51, no. 290.
  • Herbert D. Hoffmann, ed., The Beauty of Ancient Art: Classical Antiquity, Near East, Egypt. Exhibition of the Norbert Schimmel Collection, November 15, 1964 to February 14, 1965, exh. cat., Verlag Philipp von Zabern (Mainz, 1964), no. 67.
  • Oscar White Muscarella, ed., Ancient Art: The Norbert Schimmel Collection, Verlag Philipp von Zabern (Mainz, 1974), no. 146.
  • Jürgen Stettgast, Von Troja bis Amarna: The Norbert Schimmel Collection, New York, exh. cat., Verlag Philipp von Zabern (Mainz, 1978), no. 171.

Exhibition History

  • Man in the Ancient World: An Exhibition of Pre-Christian Objects from the Regions of the Near East, Egypt, and the Mediterranean, Paul Klapper Library, 02/10/1958 - 03/07/1958
  • The Beauty of Ancient Art: the Norbert Schimmel Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 11/15/1964 - 02/14/1965
  • Von Troja bis Amarna: The Norbert Schimmel Collection, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, 03/18/1978 - 05/28/1978; Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, 06/24/1978 - 09/03/1978; Archäologische Staatssammlung München - Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, 09/28/1978 - 01/06/1979

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu