Poppy-Headed Pin

A round shaft tapering to a point is crowned by a globe with a knob, which resembles a poppy seedpod. A triple molding marks the transition from the head to the shaft, and an incised line encircles the globe at its greatest diameter. This group of pins acquired in Luristan is inspired by plant motifs (162.1972, 163.1972, 165.1972, and 166.1972). Three pin heads are more or less explicitly in the shape of poppy seedpods, while the fourth looks like a bud. The shafts of two of the pins are decorated with raised bands encircled by incised lines that similarly occur on many Luristan bronze objects. A large number of such floral pins were excavated in the building complex at Surkh Dum, which is generally interpreted as a sanctuary. This suggests that these pins were used in Luristan during Iron Age II and early Iron Age III (the ninth to eighth centuries BCE) (1). NOTES: 1. See E. F. Schmidt, M. N. van Loon, and H. H. Curvers, The Holmes Expedition to Luristan (Chicago, 1989) 268-69 and 301-306 (27D.12-14), pls. 168-70. Compare also P. R. S. Moorey, Catalogue of the Ancient Persian Bronzes in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, 1971) 188-89, nos. 297-300, pl. 48. Susanne Ebbinghaus