LOT 0077

Bronze Military Standard Finial of an Ibex

TRANSCAUCASIA, 13TH-6TH CENTURY B.C.

5 7/8 in. (643 grams total, ibex: 15 cm high).

Wth a rounded body and prominent raised neck, a tubular muzzle with stylised eyes and ears and a small, slightly open mouth; a ring with a chain and a large carnelian sphere beneath the chin; a wide incised groove above the front legs, perhaps intended to represent muscles; a long slit beneath the abdomen; standing on a rectangular platform with a pin for insertion to a wooden shaft; accompanied by a custom-made display stand.

Acquired in Vienna, Austria, in the 1990s.
Collection of N.M., former Israeli Ambassador to Austria (1998–2000).
Private collection, London.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13039-247908.

Cf. Loehr, M., ‘The Stag Image in Scythia and the Far East’ in Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America Volume 9, 1955, pp.63-76 and pls.74-76; Davis-Kimball, J., Bashilov A.V., Yablonsky, L., Nomads of the Eurasian Steppes in the Early Iron Age, Berkeley, 1995, p.216, fig.12, for a similar mountain goat as top of a pole; p.272, fig.12, for the finial of a mountain goat from the Arzhan Kurgan; p.323 lett.p., for another similar finial.

In Scythian art, the ibex was often depicted in dynamic ‘animal style’ symbolising life, strength, and perhaps cosmic struggles, potentially linked to seasonal cycles or fertility, showing its sacred status as a totem animal alongside mouflons. The realistically depicted posture of the animal testifies to the ancient masters' keenness of observation and of their skill in rendering the character of the animal in metal. The posture recalls more archaic (7th-6th century B.C.) animal style art found in the Tagar finials.