Openwork appliqué with heraldic lions sharing a head in high relief,

late 5th–early 4th century BCE

These rare gold appliqués are pierced to allow a cloth or painted leather background to show through the design. Tiny loops on the back indicate that they were to be sewn to a garment, horse blanket, or tent hanging. Two take the form of a lion’s head, with mouths open mid-roar. The third object is a roundel with a pair of heraldic lions that share a single, conjoined head, which emerges from a frame of tongues representing the ruff of the mane. A separate piece of gold was inserted for the lion’s tongue. The muscular bodies of the animals are skillfully modeled, and the planes of the neck are contrasted with boldly stylized shoulders, a hallmark of the Achaemenid style. In contemporaneous Persian images, lions are frequently associated with the Great King, in this case possibly Artaxerxes II, who died in 358 BCE, and functioned as symbols of power.