拍品专文
A gold repoussé belt ornament in the Freer Gallery of Art displaying a lion walking to the left with its head in high relief, with chased details on ring-punched ground, is very similar in technique and iconography to the present finial. In the Catalogue of Islamic Metalwork in the Freer Gallery of Art, the ornament is compared to a rare gold sword pommel with three seated winged-lions with heads in high-relief now in the Tehran Archeological Museum which is almost identical to our example and gives therefore an indication as to its possible use (Esin Atil et. al., op. cit., Washington, 1985, p. 72, fig. 28). A rosewater sprinkler in the David collection datable to the second half of 12th century, whose shoulder is decorated with a frieze of similar lions, suggests that this motif was much appreciated in Medieval Easter Iran and Afghanistan (Kjeld von Folsach, Art from the World of Islam, Copenhagen, 2001, p. 311, cat. 494).
The Tehran pommel was found in Gilan, on the Southern shore of the Caspian Sea, and is datable to the 11th century. It was considered the only known piece closely related to the Freer Gallery ornament to which the present example now brings a second comparable. However, with its remarkably preserved condition and its monumentality albeit the small size, this gold ornament stands out from the previous examples and is in all points exceptional.
The Tehran pommel was found in Gilan, on the Southern shore of the Caspian Sea, and is datable to the 11th century. It was considered the only known piece closely related to the Freer Gallery ornament to which the present example now brings a second comparable. However, with its remarkably preserved condition and its monumentality albeit the small size, this gold ornament stands out from the previous examples and is in all points exceptional.