Luristan Horse Bit with Cheek Pieces in Form of Winged Sphinxes

Culture: Luristan

Period: 8th-7th century B.C.

Material: Bronze

Dimensions: 12.8 cm x 19.2 cm

Price: 6 000 Euro

Ref: Intact.

Provenance: From the estate of the French art dealer Evrard de Rouvre (1923-1979). Thence with his daughter Isabelle and her husband Francois van den Broek. Since then in the family estate.

Condition: Intact

Description: Horse bit with a heavy solid bronze bit which is curled at the ends and where the cheek pieces are attached. The cheek pieces in form of winged sphinxes. The mixed creatures wear helmets with horns, have stylized, round human faces with protruding lion ears and cascading hair strands screwed into volutes. The button-like eyes looking out from thick lids, the nose is long. The sphinxes wear necklaces and have the lion tail raised to support the abundantly decorated wings, worked out in cold work. At the bottom a stand bar. On the inside two eyelets each for suspension. See for the type of the horse bit in the Metropolitan Museum of Art with the Accession Number 32.161.24. Mounted.