Balustrade Fragment with Animals from the residence of Hajji Hasan ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad 1303-4 Iran, Hamadan, Ilkhanid period (1256–1353) Limestone Overall: 66.7 x 83.8 x 10.6 cm (26 1/4 x 33 x 4 3/16 in.) Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1938.15 DID YOU KNOW? This balustrade and two others, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Louvre in Paris, are from a building probably in the city of Hamadan, Iran. DESCRIPTION This architectural relief shows a lion attacking a bull surrounded by other predators pursuing their prey, with scrolling vegetal motifs filling the spaces between. Scenes of powerful predators in the act of hunting and capturing other animals echo the royal imagery of pre-Islamic Iran. This piece was part of a balustrade in a private home; the owner and construction date are known from another fragment from the same building. The building was embellished when the Mongols controlled Iran, and the relief shows a continuity in style from carvings made during the preceding Turkic Seljuk period (1037–1194). Under Turkic and Mongol rule in Iran, Islamic injunctions against making figural imagery were loosened. PROVENANCE ?-1938 (Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1938- The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH CITATIONS The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 685 archive.org The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 208 archive.org The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 208 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. 264 archive.org EXHIBITION HISTORY Arts of Iran (Islamic art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 30, 2018-October 28, 2019). Al-Andalus: Art from Islamic Spain (Islamic art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 29, 2019-October 25, 2020).