4th century BC. A large bronze standard finial with pierced central plate forming scrolls along central spine with incised ornament and surmounted by a bird-head in the round; the base a tapered socket with fixing holes and bearing a crossbar with antlered stag's head in the round at centre and with four suspended conical bells. See Salmony, A., ‘An unknown Scythian find in Novocherkassk’ in Eurasia Septentrionalis Antiqua, 1936, X, pp.54-60; Loehr, M., ‘The Stag Image in Scythia and the Far East’ in Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America Volume 9, 1955, pp.63-76; Galanina, L.K., & Grach, N., Scythian Art, Leningrad, 1986; Leskov, A.M.,Grabschätze der Adygeen, Munich, 1990; Schiltz, V., Die Skythen und andere Steppenvölker, Munich, 1994; Jacobson, E., The Art of the Scythians; the interpenetration of cultures at the edge of the Hellenic World, Leiden, New York & Cologne, 1995; Galanina, L.K., Die Kurgane von Kelermes:“Königsgräber” der frühskythischen Zeit, Moscow, 1997; ????????, ?.?., ‘??????? ?????????? ?? ????????? ?????????????? ??????????, ?????????? ? ??????????????? ???????? (???????? ?.?. ???????????? 1914, 1915, 1917 ??.)’ in ????. ???.38. ?????-?????????.: ??????????????? ???????, Saint Petersburg, 2010. pp.107-122; the closest parallel to our standard finial is a pair of bronze top-poles with the same iconographical scheme kept in the Museum of Novocherkassk (Salmony, 1936, pp.54-55, fig.1).821 grams, 40cm (15 3/4"). Ex collection of N.M., former Israeli Ambassador to Austria (1998-2000); acquired from Mr R.D. of Vienna in 1998; acquired by Mr R.D. in the 1950s from the descendants of Franz Hancar (1893-1968), a famous scholar and expert in ancient Caucasian cultures; he is believed to have received the standard circa 1930 from Franz Heger (1853-1931), an Austrian traveller and explorer who bought it as part of a collection during his travels in the Caucasus in 1890; accompanied by a copy of a nine page examination report number 137/2015 by Dr. habil Mikhail Treister, and an archaeological report by Dr. Raffaele D’Amato; this lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no.10418-170710. The Scythian standards were usually made of cast bronze figures, bearing iconography typical of the royal mounds of the Scythian steppes. They could be used as pole finials but also as adornments of funeral chariots. The top, as a rule, was decorated with figurines or images of individual parts of fantastic creatures or animals (birds of prey, herbivores), among which the stag, one of the pre-eminent motifs in the art of Scythia, probably a Siberian or Chinese iconographic motive imported in the Scythian art, was the favourite. [A video of this lot is available to view on TimeLine Auctions website.]