The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 22, 2025

Hero and Animal Combat Beaker

900–700 BCE

Iran, Luristan

silver, repoussé, engraved
Diameter: 7.7 cm (3 1/16 in.); Overall: 10.1 cm (4 in.)
Gift of K. Rabenou 1963.95
Location: 102A Ancient Near East

Did You Know?

Repoussé is a technique of hammering into metal to create designs and figures.

Description

On this silver beaker, two registers show men grabbing felines by the paws and stabbing rearing beasts amid stylized trees. The bearded men wear long robes and scarves, carefully created using repoussé. A large guilloche pattern (interlacing curved lines) containing a smaller guilloche pattern and punctuated by round bosses fills the space between the registers. This beaker may show a Master of Animals or a hero in combat, popular motifs in the ancient Near East.
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 11 archive.org
    Shepherd, Dorothy G. “Four Early Silver Objects from Iran.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 53, no. 2 (February 1966): 38–50. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 45, fig. 10 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 11 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 4 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 7 archive.org
  • Year in Review (1963). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 27, 1963-January 5, 1964).
  • {{cite web|title=Hero and Animal Combat Beaker|url=false|author=|year=900–700 BCE|access-date=22 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1963.95