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Studies in Iranian Metalwork. V: A Sassanian Eagle in the Round

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Assadullah Souren Melikian-Chirvani
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Extract

The object published in these pages for the first time is of major interest for the history of Iranian metalwork. This eagle in the round is the largest animal bronze of the Sassanian period known to this day. It is of the highest quality and in comparatively good condition in spite of the accident which caused its two wings to be broken at some unknown time. I should therefore like to express my warmest thanks to Dr. von Manteuffel, Director of the Sculpture Department at the Berlin Dahlem Museum, and to Dr. Ursula Schlegel for generously giving me permission to publish this outstanding work of art. My gratitude goes also to Dr. Viktor Elbern, who very kindly encouraged me in this publication.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 101 , Issue 1 , January 1969 , pp. 2 - 9
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1969

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References

1 It also seems to have undergone a severe shock. The patina, though not conclusive, suggests that the bird was excavated, possibly a long time ago.

2 Metz, Peter, Europäische Bildwerke von der Spätantike bis zum Rokoko, Munich, 1957, no. 86.Google Scholar

3 Metz, Peter, Bildwerke der christlichen Epochen von der Spätantike bis zum Klassizismus, Munich, 1966, 55, no. 213.Google Scholar

4 I owe this information to the kindness of Dr. V. Elbern.

5 Schlumberger, Daniel, “Descendants non méditerranéens de l'art grec”, Syria, XXXVII, 3–4, 1960, pl. XI facing p. 293.Google Scholar

6 Registration no. 58.7. Published here for iconographic comparison. This writer has not seen or handled the object. In style, it would seem to be later than the end of the Sassanian empire. Scholarly opinion is not altogether unanimous about the object.

7 Pope, Arthur Upham (ed.), Survey of Persian art, 2nd ed., New York and Tokyo, 1965, VII, pl. 225b.Google Scholar

8 Another illustration of this is the marked relief given to the heads of ibexes shown facing the spectator on the beautiful Kettaneh dish. See Durr, Niklaus, Trésors de l'ancien Iran (Catalogue), Genève, 1966, pl. 83 (Cat. no. 732).Google Scholar

9 Ghirshman, Roman, 7000 ans d'art en Iran (Catalogue), Paris, 1961, no. 67.Google Scholar

10 Ghirshman, Roman, Perse. Proto-Iraniens, Mèdes, Achéménides, Paris, 1963, 107, pl. 138.Google Scholar

11 Parrot, André, Assur, Paris, 1961, 70, pl. 77.Google Scholar

12 Ghirshman, Perse, 128, pl. 174.

13 Phillips, E. D., The royal hordes: nomad peoples of the steppes, 1965, 102–103, fig. 116–8.Google Scholar

14 Wessel, Klaus, Koptische Kunst, Recklinghausen, 1963, 29, colour plate 1.Google Scholar

15 Ross, Marvin C., Catalogue of the Byzantine and early medieval antiquities in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection, I, Washington, li, no. 93; 77–78.Google Scholar

16 Beckwith, John, The art of Constantinople, 1961, 11, pl. 7.Google Scholar

17 Ibid., 50, pl. 65.

18 Drioton, Etienne, Le musée du Caire, Paris, 1949, pl. 19. The Egyptian bird is of course a falcon, not an eagle.Google Scholar

19 Ibid., pl. 185. This is an outline used for all birds: see pl. 200 (owls), pl. 201 (vulture), etc.

20 Survey of Persian art, VII, pl. 212.

21 The object was published by Orebli, J. and Trever, G., Orfèvrerie Sassanide, Moscow and Leningrad, 1935, pl. 48Google Scholar. For a sharper detail, however, see Lukonin, Vladimir G., Iran, II, Paris etc., 1967 (édition française), colour plate facing p. 153.Google Scholar

22 A famous stone Senmurv was indeed thought to be Iranian (see Sarre, Friedrich, Die Kunst des alten Persien, Berlin, 1922. pl. 102)Google Scholar until André Grabar established its Byzantine character. See Grabar, André, Sculptures byzantines de Constantinople (IV–Xe siècle), Paris, 1963, 107–108 and pl. LVII.Google Scholar

23 John Beckwith, op. cit, pl. 129. Our eminent Byzantine colleague stresses (p. 101) the difference from the “Islamic Eagle silks that have survived”, thus obviously referring to the later Buyid models. He does not mention the possibility of a Sassanian inspiration. A typological comparison with designs known from metalwork would show this. I hope to explain in a future study why the two silks are in all likelihood Persian fabrics produced during the 2nd/8th or 3rd/9th centuries.

24 Schramm, Percy Ernst, Kaiser Friedrichs II Herrschaftszeichen, Göttingen, 1955, pl. XXXI, fig. 54.Google Scholar

25 Ibid., pl. XXXIV, fig. 62.

26 Ibid., pl. XXXV, fig. 67.

27 Ibid., pl. XXXIV, fig. 65.

28 Ibid., pls. XXXVIII and XXXIX.

29 Deer, Josef, Der Kaiserornat Friedrichs II, Bern, 1952, pl. XXXVIIIGoogle Scholar. See also the stylization on other materials—silver, fabrics—in the same plate.

30 Percy Ernst Schramm, op. cit, 101.

31 Grabar, André, “Trôes episcopaux du XIe et du XIIe siècles en Italie Méridionale”, Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch, XVI, 1954, 11, fig. 2.1 should like to thank the author, who drew my attention to his publication and suggested that I should consider the pieces studied there.Google Scholar

32 Parrot, André, Sumer, Paris, 1960, 322, pl. 398.Google Scholar

33 See Ghirshman, Perse, 262, pl. 318, for the best reproduction.

34 Dalton, O. M., Treasure of the Oxus, 3rd ed., 1964, pl. XXV, no. 194.Google Scholar

35 Survey of Persian art, pls. 240b and c; Persian art, an illustrated souvenir: exhibition of Persian art at Burlington House, 1931; Ghirshman, Roman, Iran, Parthes et Sassanides, Paris, 1962, 214, pl. 255.Google Scholar

36 Ettinghausen, Richard, “Sasanian and Islamic metal-work in Baltimore”, Apollo, LXXXIV, 58 (12 1966), 465.Google Scholar

37 Dr. Viktor Elbern, when consulted by the author, kindly confirmed this fact.

38 O. M. Dalton, op. cit., pl. 208, described as Sassanian.

39 This article is no. V in a series entitled “Studies in Iranian metalwork” or in French “Matériaux pour un corpus de l'argenterie et du bronze iraniens” (M.C.A.B.I.). See further “La coupe d'Abu Sahl-e Farhadh-jerdi” (M.C.A.B.I. I), Gazette des Beaux Arts, LXXI, mars 1968, 129–146Google Scholar; “Un bassin iranien de l'an 1375” (M.C.A.B.I. II), ibid., LXXIII, janvier 1969, 5–18; “Le griffon iranien de Pise” (M.C.A.B.I. III), Kunst des Orients, VI, 2, 1968, 68–86Google Scholar; “Le bassin du sultan Qara Arslan b. Īl-Ġāzī” (M.C.A.B.I. IV), Revue des Etudes Islamiques, 1968, pt. II, 263–278; “Bassins iraniens du XIVe siècle au musée des Beaux-Arts” (M.C.A.B.I. VI), Bulletin des Musées et Monuments Lyonnais, IV, 2, 1969, 189–206.