Antiquities Exhibits

In 2015, I had the opportunity to photograph artifacts in the Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery of Asian Art.  In it, I found this spectacular fragment of a gold breastplate dating to the Iron Age III period. Other fragments of this breastplate are today in the Cincinnati Art Museum and in the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Fragments from a second gold breastplate found in the burial mound near the village of Ziwiye are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and in the National Museum in Teheran. "This is a fragment from the lower part of a much larger pectoral, or breastplate, made of sheet metal and embellished with figures and ornament arranged in horizontal bands. A breastplate shielded the chest from arrows or other weapons. The decoration on this example consists of mythical guardian creatures, whose images were believed to provide magical protection for the wearer." "A pectoral made of thin sheet gold, like this one, would have been attached to a sturdier material, p...

Epic by name and epic by nature, this exhibition will cover an ambitious 5,000 years of Iranian history through 350 objects. Starting in 3,200BCE, the show will first explore the varied landscape of Iran before moving on to early Persian civilisations, the Persian Empire, and later Sassanid rule and Zoroastrianism. Split into ten, fairly chronological sections, it will have an “immersive design” that apparently sets it in a city, complete with a gatehouse, gardens, a palace and a library. The show will include works borrowed from collections in the US, Russia, France, Belgium and the UK. Image: An incense-burner in the shape of a lion (1000-1100 CE) is on show in the "Literary Excellence" section, demonstrating how texts decorated objects Photo: © Musee du Louvre Read more about it: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/epic-iran-preview

The site of Hasanlu was extensively excavated from 1957–77 as part of a general investigation into the archaeology of the Ushnu-Solduz Valley in northwestern Iran, a joint venture of the Penn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, and the Archaeological Service of Iran. The site has deposits dating back some 8,000 years to Neolithic times, however, the Iron Age levels, beginning around 1250 BCE, are the best understood. The settlement portion of Hasanlu was dramatically destroyed (ca. 800 BCE) leaving a burned and body-strewn destruction level. The conflagration is thought to have happened in late summer based on plant remains. The people who remained in the buildings on the High Mound, including women and children, were completely wiped out by violence and fire. Most seem to have been left where they were killed in the streets and in buildings, which then collapsed on their bodies because of the fire. The people who remained at Hasanlu did have weapons and horses at ...

Achaemanid and Sassanian era art ongoing at the Azarbaijan Museum in Tabriz, Iran. The Azarbaijan Museum in northwestern Iran houses archaeological collections dating back to the 5th millennium BCE through the Achaemenid and Sassanian dynasties in its first two galleries as well as a library with three thousands volumes. Items include religious and funerary monuments and inscriptions, rhytons, human remains, ceramics, weights,  jewelry, glassware, coins, and seals. For those also interested in more modern art, the museum displays Iranian artist Ahad Hosseini's twelve sculptures, "Misery Around the World" in its third gallery. Image: Sassanid era (221 -651 CE) gilded silver plate, Azerbaijan Museum , Tabriz , Iran courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Alborz Fallah. The Sassanids were one of Rome's most formidable opponents. For those of you unable to travel to Iran, the Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. has a number of outstanding s...

Archaeological discoveries in Tehran, Iran. Ongoing. At the National Museum of Iran in Tehran, Iran.  An exhibition, featuring archaeological discoveries of ancient relics in Tehran, has opened its doors to the public at the National Museum of Iran. The exhibition includes artifacts from the urban area of Tehran that date back to 8,000 years B.P. Objects on display include distinctive spouted ceramic vessels excavated beneath the grand bazaar. If you can't make it to Iran, I highly recommend visiting the collection of artifacts from the ancient Near East at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles, California. Above is a colorful spouted jar from western Iran on display there. It is dated 1000 to 800 BCE.