Pendant
Unknown Artist
1st millennium BCE
Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
2.09 x 2.5 in. (5.31 x 6.35 cm)
Classification
Metalwork-Ornaments
Culture & Period
Iran · Iron Age
Department
Ancient Near Eastern Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Ernest Erickson Foundation, 1988
Accession Number
1988.102.12
Art Historical Context
This exquisite bronze pendant, crafted by an unknown artist during Iran's Iron Age in the 1st millennium BCE, offers a glimpse into the daily adornments of ancient Near Eastern peoples. Measuring just 2.09 x 2.5 inches (5.31 x 6.35 cm), its petite scale suggests it was worn as personal jewelry—perhaps suspended from a necklace or cord—serving both decorative and possibly protective purposes in a world where ornaments often held symbolic power. Bronze, a durable alloy of copper and tin, remained a prized medium even as iron tools revolutionized warfare and agriculture during this period. Irani...