Persian Iron Dragon-Shaped Flint Striker

17TH-18TH CENTURY A.D.

4 1/2 in. (297 grams, 11.5 cm).

With a thick looped body and striking face to the outer edge; handle formed in openwork with stylised serpent-head, open mouth with recurved teeth, trident tail with similar pellet clusters; engraved and drilled detailing.

Provenance

Acquired Christie's, The Longridge Collection, London, UK, 2010 (£1,276.00).
Personal collection of a Suffolk lady, UK.

Literature

Cf. Metropolitan Museum, New York, USA, object no.1977.419 (Purchase, Bequest of Florence L. Goldmark, Milton A. Rauh and Florence L. Goldmark Collection, by exchange, Norbert Schimmel Gift and Fletcher Fund, 1977), for an almost identical object.

Footnotes

Among the objects reflecting the continuation of traditional figural compositions in Indo-Iranian art, there are zoomorphic flint strikers, decorated with serpents, ducks or geese and hawks attacking birds, indicating the persistence of imperial and solar symbols.

CONDITION

VETTING:

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AUCTIONS:

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Ex The Longridge Collection, Christie's, 2010

LOT 0245