Harvard Art Museums

Finial

Date

10th-7th century BCE

Medium

Copper alloy

Culture

Iranian

Department

Department of Ancient and Byzantine Art & Numismatics

Institution

Harvard Art Museums

This fragmentary finial has openwork decoration that is repeated as a mirror image on each side of the central pin. Each side consists of one double-coiled spiral reaching horizontally from the area just under the pinhead. Lower down the shaft a branch arches and curves out; the lower edge is a raised band, and the top has four small spikes (two are missing from the better-preserved side). Below this element, only one side is preserved, consisting of a triple-coil spiral resting between the branch and the neck of an animal that juts out horizontally with the head down. The head, similar to the dragons on the more traditional finial type, has high pointed ears and a comb with three prongs on top of its head. It has large eyes consisting of a flattened circle placed on a larger circle. The snout is long, turning up at the end, and the lower jaw is slightly open. It has a raised band like a collar around its neck; a triple-spiral connects the lower jaw to the pin shaft. The rest of the finial is missing.

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