Iran _ Amlash
North-west Iran?, 1000 – 800 BCE
Orange baked clay
26.8 x 7.2 x 23.4 (3.2) cm LWH (Ø opening)

Intact, surface dirtied with light beige clay.

From time immemorial, the deer, which is naturally also indigenous to the Zagros and Elburz Mountain ranges, has been one of the noblest and most prestigious of wild game. It was not only hunted but was bred and formed a staple of life for earlier mountain civilisations in Iran (for example in Luristan and Gilan) as well as in the other neighbouring civilisations to the north up to the Caucasus. It is therefore not surprising that the deer – along with the zebu – was a determining factor in the design of pouring vessels, and just as numerous. Due to a lack of written sources, we cannot say for sure if the deer also harbours a nature deity attributed with regenerative, resuscitating attributes, as is, for example the case in Anatolia.
A six-pointer is portrayed whose hollow body is not stylised in the fashion of the Amlash animal vessels; its body is cylindrically shaped instead. The deer’s neck is largely extended, and the legs are also relatively long. Hoofs and a small tail are suggested. A conically widening opening for pouring in liquids is attached to the back. The animal’s head is worked to form a spout.
Through these stylistic features, this deer rhyton must have originated from a cultural region other than the Gilan Province. Possibilities include Luristan or the entire region of present-day Azerbaijan between Iran and the Caucasus such as, for example, Lenkoran, an excavation site close to the border of northern Iran.

André Wiese, 2011

Literature
Avant les Scythes. Préhistoire de l’art en U.R.S.S., exhibition catalogue Paris, Paris 1979, 212 no. 242f. Further E.O. Negahban, Marlik. The Complete Excavation Report, The University Museum Monograph 87, 2 vols., Philadelphia PA 1996, 120 – 122 nos. 100–103 plate 39. Paradeisos. Frühe Tierbilder aus Persien aus der Sammlung Elisabeth und Peter Suter-Dürsteler, exhibition catalogue Basel, Basel 1992, 60f. no. 14. J. Gabus – R.-L. Junod, Amlash Art, Bern 1967, plate XIII. Stiftung DKM, Iran _ Amlash, Duisburg 2011, 28 – 29, cat.-no. 9.