Weiner Mihályné szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 7. (Budapest, 1964)
HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM — MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Ferenczy, László: Bronzes of Luristan
entered Iran through the Caucasus during the eighth or probably at the end of the ninth century, B. C. In reference to the finds from Hamadan he points out the identity of Medean and Luristan art and attributes the latter to a mixed Medean-Kimmerian population. Thus, with the exception of a few earlier pieces with cuneiform writing, he dates the bronzes of Luristan to the 8—7th century B. C. 10 Vanden Berghe, in his comprehensive work on the archaeology of Iran, dates the majority of the Luristan pieces (bronzes representing pairs of animals, axes, daggers, the cheek-pieces of bits, pitchers with long spouts) between 1200—1000, while the belt-plates and situlae between 1000 and 750. 11 Thus we can trace the course of study of the complicated questions of Luristan art. The major progress was due to the excavation and study of new Iranian sites, mainly the ,,B" cemetery of Sialk which preceded the culture of Luristan, but contained many basic forms of these objects. The results of archaeological investigations led in the Caucasus must also be considered a contribution to this question. This allows us to assign a later date to the culture of Koban, placing it between the 11—7th centuries B. C. 12 We can also form a clearer picture about the ethnic groups developing the art of Luristan. Similarly to the population of Transcaucasia, these were composed of local cattle-breeding and nomadic tribes. Around the turn of the second and first millenia Indo-Iranian immigrants, coming from the North and North-East continuously, settled in the area and there developed their old culture. In the 8th century Kimmerian, and then Scythian waves added new features to their art. Mesopotamian elements were likely contributed by the Kassites, who were forced to relinquish their rule in Babylonia in 1185 B. C. and to return to the Zagros Mountains. Late Assyrian elements can be explained by the historical relations. After this development the art of Luristan can have become one of the sources of Achaemenian art, which was the first to cover a broader area in Iran. The Francis Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Art possesses four previously unpublished bronze objects from Luristan. They pose interesting problems and indicate the distant ties of these bronzes. The objects were acquired in the 1930s by the former director of the Museum, Zoltán Felvinczi Takáts, who purchased them from antique dealers. The first object is a solid bronze pin-head (Fig. 1) depicting a harnessed horse with its legs tucked under its belly. It is 7 cm long. There are three parallel lines around its head and neck which likely represent straps. The wellrounded hind-quarters are separated from the rest of the body by double bands. The ears are short. The eyes are not in their correct place. They are denoted by small engraved circles at the base of the ears. The hooves are outlined by grooves. The two long joined strips beginning at the knees and jutting over the shoulder of the animal are unexplainable or cannot exactly be defined. They might represent wings or a yoke. This unusual segment may be seen on the horse-shaped pin heads in other collections too. The following analogies should be mentioned: Godard published a piece of less precise workman 10 Ghirshman, i?. : Sept mille ans d'art en Iran. Paris 1961. pp. 29 — 31. 11 Vanden Berghe, L. : Archéologie de l'Iran ancien. Leiden 1959. pp. 91—94. 12 Krupnov, E. I. : O proiskhozdenii i datirovke kobanskoi kultury. Sovietskaia Arkheologia, 1957/1, pp. 56 — 82.
