Critique Request Marlik, a masterpiece of 3000 year history

From now on I will try to provide this site with masterpieces of ancient Iranian works of engraving which of course some of you may have already seen it but it is of worth to have more details of them.As you may know Iran is the country where the metal works including engraving, casting... developed.



Marlik is an ancient site near Roudbar in Gilan, north of Iran. Marlik, also known as Cheragh-Ali Tepe is located in the valley of Gohar Rud (crystal river), a tributary of Sepid Rud in Gilan Province in Northern Iran, Marlik. Marlik is the site of a royal cemetery, and artifacts found at this site date back to 3,000 years ago. Some of the artifacts contain amazing workmanship with gold.

The work dates back to Acamedian era and have a 3000 years of history. It has been decorated with a life tree and three winged cows. The head and horn and ears of the cows are separately made and attached to the cup. The metal is gold.

There is no information on the tools and the way/style they finished the work.

amazing work, to be sure. even more amazing, is the fact that the work has survived for all this time. a testament to the human spirit that this work was done with primitive tools. imagine what those people could have done with modern power tools. tyvm for showing.

I notice in the second picture that the cow on the right appears to have one horn broken off.
And it looks as if the head is hollow. For some reason that surprises me.
I wonder if the cow heads are early examples of lost wax casting?

monk said:

amazing work, to be sure. even more amazing, is the fact that the work has survived for all this time. a testament to the human spirit that this work was done with primitive tools. imagine what those people could have done with modern power tools. tyvm for showing.

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Thanks Monk for your post. Yes it is amazing and wonderful work made for Acamedian kings some are for drinkings and some for decorations.

John B. said:

I notice in the second picture that the cow on the right appears to have one horn broken off.
And it looks as if the head is hollow. For some reason that surprises me.
I wonder if the cow heads are early examples of lost wax casting?

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Yes John well it is an ancient work and thanks to the people kept it till now since 3000 years is a long time for a piece of work like this. The head is hollow since it seems the repousse technique is done on it as I do in my works.

AliAtiyabi said:

Yes John well it is an ancient work and thanks to the people kept it till now since 3000 years is a long time for a piece of work like this. The head is hollow since it seems the repousse technique is done on it as I do in my works.

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Thank you for confirming that the bull's heads are hollow. Are they repousse for sure and not castings?
Do they appear to be be joined to the body of the vessel by inlay methods or gold soldering?
Either way the whole piece demonstrates the fantastic skill for a piece of work from 3000 years ago.

John B. said:

Thank you for confirming that the bull's heads are hollow. Are they repousse for sure and not castings?
Do they appear to be be joined to the body of the vessel by inlay methods or gold soldering?
Either way the whole piece demonstrates the fantastic skill for a piece of work from 3000 years ago.

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Yes it is repousse not casting as there are other works which I will post in future dating back to the same era.
The heads are gold soldering method.