Urartian Pin with Repousse Decorated Disc
7th-6th century B.C. A bronze dress pin comprising a round-section tapering shank with hipped bulb below the head; discoid head with raised border, repoussé design featuring a central facing mask with lentoid eyes and piriform face, hatched hair and beard; below, two rosettes above the backs of addorsed advancing goats with decorated and segmented bodies; plant motifs before the goats' chests and leaping lions above with gaping mouths flanking the mask of a master of animals with ibexes emerging from the cheeks; mounted on a stand; chipped. Cf. Muscarella, O.W., Bronze and Iron. Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988, items 310, 312, 313. 88 grams, 43 cm long (17 in.). Acquired 1970s-1990s.Ex Rabi Gallery, Mayfair, London, U.K.From a specialist collection of pottery.