Luristan Bronze Double Peacock Pendant

With a tapering round-section shank, finial topped with a ram's head. 110 grams, 16.5 cm



From the collection of late George Withers, UK. Acquired from Dore and Rees, UK. Property of Mr A.B., an American collector.

The corpus of pins from Hasanlu includes simple plain pins, pins with lion's head and other zoomorphic pins. The zoomorphic pins were either cast onto a bronze shank or the pin was inserted into a hollow of the head. A third category was that of the pins cast in one piece, like our specimen, representing a goat or mouflon, an animal often depicted in the North-West Persian material culture.

Hardback with quarter-calf binding and cloth-covered boards; title page with naskh script text in a triangular block; text pages typically 18 lines of loose black-ink script inside hand-drawn bilinear frames with red titles and diacritics, ru'qah script headings, text figures, diagrams, numerical and text tables, perpendicular text-blocks; usage wear. 468 grams, 20.3 x 25.6 cm



From an important family collection started in the late 1950s. Property of a West London, UK, gentleman. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12276-220409.

Astrolabes were used to make astronomical measurements, specifically to determine the altitudes of celestial bodies, but over time astrologers and travellers devised many different uses for the instrument. They were especially useful to navigators in order to determine position when out of sight of land. This text explains the book 'The Astrolabe' and several ways in which the device could be deployed.

Each a penannular tapering hoop with graduated bulbs forming a ribbed profile. 50 grams total, 65 mm each



UK private collection before 2000. Acquired on the UK art market. Property of a London gentleman.