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Pectoral in the Shape of a Feline


Scythian
5th century BCE
6.2 cm x 9.2 cm (2 7/16 in. x 3 5/8 in.)
bronze covered with electrum sheath
BZ.1923.7

Not on view


Permalink: http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info/36162

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Description
This is a bronze tiger or lioness with a stylized eagle head on its shoulder. It is covered with a leaf of electrum. The eyes, nose, and mouth are evident on the head, which turns to the right; lines indicate toes and perhaps muscles on the legs.


Bibliography
Exposition d'Art Oriental, Chambre Syndicale de la Curiosité et des beaux-arts (Paris, 1925), cat. no. 8, p. 7, pl. X.

C. Vignier in Arethuse, April, 1925, Pl. X, 1; p. 58.

Cambridge Ancient History, Plates, Lov. III, 1930, Pl. facing p. 86, fig. c.

A. Salmony, Sino-Siberian Art in the Collection of C. T. Loo (Paris, 1933), p. 43: "nearly identical replica of . . . gilded animal found at Simferopol." See also Commentary.

Exhibition of Persian Art, Cat. 2nd ed., Iranian Institute (New York, 1940), p. 426.

Bulletin of the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. X, No. 4, Dec. 1945 (reproduction p. 120).


Exhibition History
Paris, Chambre Syndicale de la Curiosité et des beaux-arts, "Exposition d'Art Oriental," May 4 - May 31, 1925.

New York, Iranian Institute, "Six Thousand Years of Persian Art," April 24, 1940 - June 1940.

Cambridge, Fogg Museum, "A Selection of Ivories, Bronzes, Metalwork and Other Objects from the Dumbarton Oaks Collection," Nov. 15 - Dec. 31, 1945.


Acquisition History
Said to be from the Crimea (Cimmerian Bosphorus).

Collection du Comte de Massoneau.

Purchased from the dealer Charles Vignier (1863–1934), Paris, by Mildred Barnes and Robert Woods Bliss, 1923;

Collection of Mildred Barnes and Robert Woods Bliss, Washington, DC, 1923 - November 29, 1940;

Gifted to Harvard University, November 29, 1940;

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Byzantine Collection, Washington, D.C.