Provenance: 
Nasli Heeramaneck (1902-1971), New York, prior to 1964. 
Jay C. Leff Collection (1925-2000), Uniontown, Pennsylvania; thence by descent.

Note:
Gold has long been the currency of social and political status. Lion-headed protomes form the terminals of this substantial gold bracelet. The image of confronting lions—as well as other real and mythological animals—is a motif that has a long iconographical history in Western Asia. Many fascinating and unique objects of exquisite beauty come from this region of the world, and its rich and longstanding artistic heritage inspired much of the Mediterranean world from the Mycenaean period onward. 

Presumably cast from a local workshop, the open-mouthed lions compare favorably to an analogous gold bracelet found in the Kurdistan Region and now on view at The Louvre Abu Dhabi (Inv. no. LAD2009.019). Combining artistic elements from cultures as far west as Assyria and as far north as Urartu and Scythia, the ferocity of the snarling lion has been tempered and restrained by decorative convention. As in the words of the Achaemenid King Darius the Great, “Force is always beside the point when subtlety will serve.” 

The open assimilation to and influences from neighboring cultures of Western Asia would become a political keystone for the burgeoning Persian Empire. As can be seen in the stylistic differences between the numerous examples of animal-headed bracelets, artistic trends were not set by the most dominant culture, but by the most talented craftsmen.