A WESTERN ASIATIC BRONZE 'GOAT' OPENWORK FINIAL
Circa 5th century B.C. - 5th century A.D. Finely cast in the form of a mountain goat with long, ribbed, and powerfully curved horns, pricked funnel-shaped ears, and a short tail, atop a pierced rectangular base.

Provenance: Collection of Oliver Reginald Hoare (1945-2018). Inventory label to interior of base, '1461 C'. A prominent English art figure, described as arguably the most influential dealer in the Islamic world, Hoare joined Christie's London in 1967 where he was initially overseeing Russian art. After spotting some carpets left lying in a corridor and recognizing them as Persian, Hoare used them as the basis of a successful auction, which led to the launch of the Islamic Art Department, the first of its kind in a major auction house. He left Christie's in 1975 and opened Ahuan, a gallery in Pimlico, in partnership with David Sulzberger. In 1994, he negotiated the return of a Persian 16th-century manuscript to Iran, the Houghton Shahnameh (the most important illustrated manuscript ever created in Persia), in exchange for Willem de Kooning's Woman III which had been in Iran since the Islamic revolution. In the 1990s, he famously liaised with Diana, Princess of Wales.
Condition: Good condition, overall as expected and fully commensurate with age. Old wear, losses, small dents, minor nicks, extensive signs of weathering and erosion, soil encrustations.

Weight: 751.7 g
Dimensions: Height 20.5 cm

Expert's note: It is interesting to note that wild goats and other bovids appear in artifacts from a wide range of sites within Western Asia over a long period of time spanning thousands of years. Goats are among the earliest animals domesticated by humans. The most recent genetic analysis confirms the archaeological evidence that the wild bezoar ibex of the Zagros Mountains is the likely original ancestor of probably all domestic goats today. Neolithic farmers began to herd wild goats primarily for easy access to milk and meat, as well as to their dung, which was used as fuel, and their bones, hair, and sinew which were used for clothing, building, and tools. The earliest remnants of domesticated goats dating 10,000 years before the present are found in Ganj Dareh in Iran. Goat remains have been found at archaeological sites in Jericho, Choga Mami, Djeitun, and Cayonu, dating the domestication of goats in Western Asia at between 8,000 and 9,000 years ago.

Literature comparison: Compare a harness ring depicting a goat, dated ca. 8th-7th century BC and attributed to Iran, probably Luristan, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 32.161.30. Compare a bronze finial surmounted by a gazelle, dated 5th-4th century BC and attributed to Northwest China and southwestern Inner Mongolia, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 2002.201.49. Compare a bronze rhyton with a centaur holding a goat, from Gilgit (Pakistan) and dated late 1st millennium BC, in the Ashmolean Museum Oxford, accession number EA1963.28.

Auction result comparison: Compare a Transcaucasian bronze wild goat rattle standard, dated circa 13th-12th century BC, at Christie's New York in Antiquities on 13 October 2020, lot 5, sold for USD 87,500.