Sassanian Cloak Pin with Lion's Paw

CIRCA 4TH-5TH CENTURY A.D.

5 in. (22.1 grams, 12.6 cm).

A copper-alloy hair pin with tapering round-section stem, bifacial lion's paw terminal.

Provenance

Acquired before 2000.
From the collection of a European gentleman living in the UK.

Literature

Cf. similar pin in bone in BM, inventory no.2007,6002.417 from Erk-Kala, near Merv.

Footnotes

In the Parthian and Sassanian Empires and the Graeco-Roman world, elaborate coiffures were a form of conspicuous consumption and continued to be one of the most common forms of reifying social status and economic wealth. Often using expensive ornaments, such as gold and silver hairpins and wigs, these coiffures must have made it clear who had the leisure time to expend several hours creating an elaborate hairstyle.

CONDITION

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LOT 0955