Catalogue - Metropolitan Museum of Art

Quiver decorated with horsemen and battle
chariots and inscribed, "To the god Haldi
Sarduri I gave." Bronze (the leather backing
has been lost), height 5 cm. (2 in.).
Urartean culture, 8th century B.C. Armenian
SSR, Karmir-Blur. Excavations, 1948.
Hermitage, 17762.
Karmir-Blur III. Rezultaty raskopok
1951-1953 (Erivan, 1955), fig. 26.
13 (Color plate 2)
Urartu had a rich bronze industry, of
which many remains have survived.
Fantastic animal-human figures were
favorite motifs, and this bird with a female
torso is frequently found in Urartean and
Syrian art (the Greek siren was a similar
being). The use of female-bird forms as
cauldron handles spread from Urartu to
the west, and examples influenced by this
type have been found in Greece and Italy.
Bird with a female torso, handle from a
cauldron. Bronze.
Urartean culture, 8th-7th century B.C. Found
in a rock-cut sepulcher near the Russian
frontier post at Alishtar, Iran, 1859. Acquired
from N. P. Koliubakin. Hermitage, 16003.
B. B. Piotrovsky, Iskusstvo Urartu
(Leningrad, 1962), p. 56, pl. I.
9
14 (Color plate 2)
The part-animal-part-human being, the
decorative linear patterns on its body, and
the combination of materials of different
colors (here, bronze, gold foil, and white
stone) are typical of Urartean works of
art. This example is thought to have
decorated the throne of a statue of Haldi,
the chief Urartean god.
Winged lion with a female torso, figure from
a throne. Bronze (originally covered with
gold leaf) and inlaid stone, height 16 cm.
(614 in.).
Urartean culture, 7th century B.C. Site of the
settlement of Toprak-Kale near the town of
Van, Turkey. Chance find, 1884. Acquired
from K. Kamsarakan, 1885. Hermitage,
16002.
Piotrovsky, Iskusstvo Urartu, pp. 48-49, pls.
II, III.
15
Belt decorated with kneeling archers, lions,
bulls, and mythical creatures. Bronze.
Urartean culture, 7th century B.C. Turkey,
Zakim settlement, near Korss village. From a
burial discovered in 1904. Hermitage,
KV 6250.
B. B. Piotrovsky, Vanskoe Tsarstvo
(Moscow, 1959), p. 249.
16
Griffin's head with ram's horns, possibly
part of a cheekpiece. Horn.
Scythian type. Armenian SSR, Karmir-Blur
near Erivan. Excavations of B. Piotrovsky,
1947. Hermitage.
Karmir-Blur I. Rezultaty raskopok 1939-
1949 (Erivan, 1950), pp. 95-96.
12
Scythian culture
End of the 7th-4th century B.C.
17
The shape of this leg and its decoration of
pendent leaves indicate that it is probably
an import from Urartu. Other objects
from this tomb show influence from the
same region.
Taboret leg. Silver gilt, height 11 cm.
(45/16 in.).
Urartean style, 7th-beginning of the 6th
century B.C. Ukrainian SSR, Kirovograd
region, Melgunov (Litoy) kurgan.
Excavations of A. P. Melgunov, 1763.
Hermitage, Dn 1763, 1/23.
E. Pridik, "Melgunovsky klad 1763," MAR
(1911), no. 31, pl. I.
17
99