Cleveland Museum of Art

Votive Pin with Decorated Disc

Date

800–600 BCE

Medium

silver, repoussé and incised

Culture

Iran, Luristan

Department

Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

A complex mythological scene unfolds on the decorative disc of this silver pin. On the top register, two bearded figures carrying palm fronds and a bird extend a frond to a seated lion-headed man. Below, two figures holding fronds approach a man riding a bull. Two animal-headed beings flank the registers and perhaps hold banners in their hands. A pattern of stylized lotus buds and blossoms decorates the disk’s rim. The scene may represent a Mesopotamian or Iranian myth. The pin was made with the repoussé technique by hammering designs into the back. Luristan votive pins were sometimes found pushed into the walls of religious sanctuaries.

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