Master of Animals Cheekpiece (c. 700 BCE): Art, History and Details

Master of Animals Cheekpiece (c. 700 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

In this cast bronze cheekpiece, a horned male figure with sidelocks grabs two winged felines by their forelegs. Each feline tramples a rabbit beneath its feet. This design is an ancient Near Eastern motif known as the Master of Animals. Incised chevrons, lines, and crosses decorate the master and the winged felines. A ring penetrating the male figure’s torso provides a means of attachment for a metal horse bit, now missing, and a second cheekpiece, likely nearly identical. This work likely originates from Luristan, a region in northwestern Iran known for its metalworking and horse-breeding in the Iron Age.

Object facts

• Title: Master of Animals Cheekpiece
• Date: c. 700 BCE
• Culture: Iran, Luristan
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: bronze, cast and incised
• Dimensions: Overall: 14.9 x 21.3 cm (5 7/8 x 8 3/8 in.)
• Collection: Near Eastern Art
• Department: Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art
• Accession number: 1961.33

A detail from the museum

The Master of Animals may represent a god of nature or the hunt.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.