Riding EquipmentIranian9th-8th century BCE

Bridle with Cheek Pieces Depicting Horses

9th-8th century BCE

Description

The cheek pieces of this horse bit are in the shape of walking horses. The bit is a square-sectioned rod, hammered and curled in opposite directions on the ends (20.8 cm long, 2.7 cm high at the end, 0.8 cm wide along the bar). The horses (11.5 cm long, 8 cm high at the head) are mirror images of each other. They are shown walking in profile. They are rather stylized, with details modeled rather than incised. The heads are modeled on both sides. Each horse has pointed ears, a short mane with vertical lines, and a forelock. The eyes are raised circular dots, and the muzzle narrows and then flares at the nostrils. Some other objects, not clear what, are shown encircling the necks of the horses. The musculature is stylized. The right horse has its left foreleg forward, right back, right hindleg forward, left back; the left horse moves with the opposite legs. All four hooves connect to an irregular bar, which also connects to each horse’s thin, circular-sectioned tail. There is a hole in the torso of each horse through which the bit goes, which has a raised edge on the exterior. Above the shoulders and the hindquarters on each animal is a semicircular loop, for attachment of other elements of the harness. The heads and lower legs of the horses are rendered in the round. The remaining sections on the interior sides of the horses are more schematic and generally concave. There are three spikes on the interior sides of the horses; one each below the semi-circular loops and a third on the lower forward edge of the central circular perforation.

Classification

Riding Equipment

Technique

Cast, lost-wax process

Medium

Bronze

Culture

Iranian

Period

Iron Age

Century

9th-8th century BCE