CULTURE / REGION OF ORIGIN: Luristan, western Iran .
DATE:  Early Iron Age, 10th – 7th Century BCE
DIMENSIONS:  28.4 cm (11.1 in.) long, the pin head is 13.8 cm (5.4 in.) in diameter.

DESCRIPTION: A Luristan bronze garment pin with hammered, punched and incised decoration. The long pin section, comprising about two-thirds of the object’s total length, reaches a roughly quadrangular point, hammered nearly flat, just below the pin head. The pin head itself consists of a large, thin, roughly disc-shaped plate, hammered flat. This has been decorated with an incised seven point star design, centered and connected to a sort of trunk that runs downward towards the base. This trunk is enhanced with an incised chevron pattern, while each arm of the star is enhanced with multiple lines of very small, closely spaced punch marks. At each tip of the star is an embossed circular bump surrounded by more fine punch marks. The outer perimeter of the pin head is decorated simply with a continuous line of embossed dots. The reverse is undecorated. The patina is generally a smooth dark green, with a few areas of lighter green. The reverse shows areas of roughness and brown encrustation in and around the embossed areas. A very desirable piece.

PROVENANCE: Formerly in an old Scandinavian family collection, formed between 1890 and 1940, mostly by Professor Richard Tackholm (1865-1937), who bought pieces in Paris and London around 1900, some from the Hilton-Price Collection and others as gifts from friends like Sir William Flinders Petrie. Others were acquired by his relative, a Swedish Professor of Botany, Vivi Laurent-Tackholm, who lived in Cairo, 1923-1978. Inherited from Professor Tackholm by Mrs. Elsa Berglund (1903-1979), a relative of the most recent owner’s grandfather.

PUBLISHED: Bonhams, ANTIQUITIES, 13 October, 2006, London, page 53, illustrated in color on page 54.

COMPARISONS: The British Museum, collections online (www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass) item ANE 132900 for a similar Luristan bronze garment pin but decorated with an image of a goddess. . Also, Andre Parrot, The Arts of Assyria, New York, 1961, Plates 209-212 for examples of Luristan bronze pins with various decorative schemes, and P.R.S. Moorey, Ancient Bronzes from Luristan, British Museum Press, 1974, pages 32-35