An Openwork Copper Alloy Garment Pin

Period: 2000 BC

Origin: Iran, or central Asia

Medium: Bronze

Provenance: Ex John Kasmin Private collection
Ex Oliver Hoare Ltd.
Ex Private collection

Literature: A similar pin in the Louvre-France, was exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum’s ‘Art of the First Cities’ exhibition in 2003 (no. 228). The catalogue entry records that while Pierre Amiet believes the couple are engaged in flirtatious banter, Victor Sarianidi thinks it represents the transmission of a ‘revelation’ from one individual to another. Not that one precludes the other, of course. The Louvre pin shows the couple beneath a curved lintel, while this example has an elaborate surround; a phallic symbol between recumbent lions below; a wriggling serpent rising on each side; and a balcony above the lintel.