12 the Century

A region of Anatolia 

5.3-Cm X 3.4 Cm X 4.7 Cm Key

Medieval Middle East, Turkey/Persia, Seljuk Empire Seljuq)10th to 12th centuries CE. A fantastic small brass lock in the form of a striding lion, with a keyhole above the lower front left leg.

The shape of the lion is stylized, with the head raised, tiny ears perked, an incised, rippling mane, and short, curved legs.

The Seljuks had impressive locking technology, including combination lock boxes capable of over four million combinations; speculate what types of things they intended to lock away with a key lock such as this one.

LOCKS AND LOCKSMITHS IN SELJUKPERIOD,

Seljuk Locks have been made in Persia, since at least the second millennium BCE. The most ancient lock, dating to the 13th century BCE, was excavated at the ziggurat of Choga Zanbil (see ČOḠĀ ZANBIL) in Khuzestan.

This lock consisted of a bolt and a tumbler and was probably used on a wooden door (Wulff, pp. 68-69). Tumbler locks, also known as “Egyptian locks,” dating from the second millennium BCE have been found in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Another type of ancient lock, known as the “Greek” or “Homerian lock,” is a toothed-bolt lock (Wulff, pp. 66-67). The mechanism of this lock is not controlled by a primitive sickle-shaped key but by an iron key with wards. It is possible that the stone door of the tomb of the Achaemenid Artaxerxes III (r. 359-38 BCE) built into the mountainside at Persepolis was secured by such lock. The doors of the tomb consist of two solid stone slabs about 1.5 m high and 1.5 m wide with upper and lower corner pivots that revolved in round holes: a circular keyhole about 6 cm in diameter is on one panel, and a boxlike catch on the other. It can be assumed that the only mechanism that would work in such circumstances was a toothed-bolt lock, probably made of wood with a metal key (Tanavoli and Wertime, p. 50).

Private collections

Comes with a certificate from the Art Loss Register