By dint of its monumentality, iconography and style, this masterpiece of jewellery encapsulates the artistic synthesis that began in north-west Iran during the 8th century BCE, when craftsmen at the service of local rulers drew upon influences ranging from the Assyrian empire in the west to the kingdom of Urartu and the Scythian tribes in the north.
Discovered by chance by villagers in 1947, the bracelet is from an isolated tomb located above the village of Ziwiyé in the hills of Kurdistan. A wealthy person had been buried there at the very beginning of the 7th century BCE in a bronze sarcophagus, together with articles of finery in silver and gold, precious vessels and ceremonial articles.
The treasure included two striking gold bracelets, this one and its exact counterpart now in the museum of Teheran.
Forming part of the long Iranian tradition of art with animal motifs, they constitute a virtuoso technical feat and an aesthetic manifesto at the same time. The body consists of a thick, gold bangle with mouldings that enhance the glow of the metal. It broadens in the middle of the curve to take the form of a lozenge on which two pairs of impassive lion cubs recline on either side of the centre line. The ends of the bracelet are in the form of menacing, bare-fanged lion heads that generate dynamic tension and contrast sharply with the hieratic pose of the cubs.
Only a powerful ruler could boast such finery. Was he a Mannaean king or a Median ruler, as certain scholars suggest? It is impossible to know in the absence of any archaeological context. In any case, with its form and stylised treatment, this bracelet heralds the later masterpieces of Achaemenid Persian jewellery.