DESCRIPTION: Intact. Two matching Luristan zoomorphic bronze cheek pieces from a horse bit. Each vertically oriented with a horse head terminal curving forward from the object's vertical axis. The horse head terminals both have slightly open mouths, small circular indentations for eyes, large upright ears, and a mane composed of saw-toothed spikes running from between the ears to the beginning of the vertical axis, 9 spikes on one piece and 11 on the other. Occupying the central third of each piece, 3 thick, round openings for the now missing bit itself to pass through. Each opening is about equal in size. Each piece narrows slightly as it nears the bottom, until it reaches a slightly bulbous flat base. Patina is generally smooth dark green with patches of chocolate brown and lighter green in recessed areas.

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 (Sotheby's, London, 1911), 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 auction catalogue, ANTIQUITIES, 13 October, 2006, London, page 53, illustrated in color on page 54.

COMPARISONS: See Oscar White Muscarella, Bronze and Iron, Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988, number 353 for a nearly identical pair from northern Iran, dated to the late 8th - 7th Century BC.