A bronze belt plaque depicting a highly stylised stag. Within a rectangular border decorated with a braided pattern and marked at each corner by a round boss, a heavily abstracted stag stands. The four hooves are spread across the horizontal line of the base, the legs thin and elongated sharply bent at the knee before meeting the body. The body is formed from two globules attached by a thin spine. From the right of the body extends the neck, curving backwards of the body so that the head is positioned centrally within the plaque. A large circular eye is the only visible feature on the head, above which projects broad antlers, which occupy the full width of the plaque. From the left of the body, a long tail curls upwards, terminating in a tight coil.

Bronzes such as this were produced in the Caucasus region, from the late second millennium B.C. onwards. Highly stylised animals with small waists and arched necks and backs were the core motif of this style, and feature on a range of objects, including buckles, axes and pins. Examples have been found in Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the Northern Caucasus, dating from the beginning of the Late Bronze and Early Iron ages. Cast bronze belt clasps have been excavated in the Republic of Georgia, and are one of the region’s distinct cultural outputs in the first few centuries AD. The openwork patterns may imitate thin plaques of gold and silver, which were decorated with twisted wire and filigree, and would have been nailed at the corners to wood and leather backings.

Note on the Provenance

Dr. Rudolph Schmidt (1900-1970) and his sister Erica Peters-Schmidt (1899-1988) were born into the Müller family of well-known Solothurn industrialists and collectors on their mother’s side. Both Schmidt’s uncle, Josef Müller, and his aunt, Gertrud Dubi-Müller, acquired large collections of paintings, and hosted high-quality exhibitions. Their collection, which included works by Pablo Picasso, Paul Cezanne, Fernand Leger and Henri Matisse, was in large part bequeathed to the Kunstmuseum Solothurn. Josef Müller was also an avid collector of non-European tribal art, and his collection became a foundational part of the Musée Barbier-Mueller in Geneva (founded by Josef’s daughter and son-in-law).

Rudolf Schmidt’s own collecting began following a trip to Iran, which sparked his interest in Luristan bronzes and led to the formation of his Near Eastern art collection in the early 1930s. From the late 1930s onwards, Schmidt expanded his collection into the field of Egyptian antiquities as well. He acquired pieces from dealers such as Nicolas Koutoulakis and Eli Borowski, and soon formed a notable collection of Egyptian stone vessels. Unique amongst Swiss collectors, Schmidt’s collection also encompassed Greek, Roman, African and pre-Columbian art, alongside modern Swiss paintings by artists such as Ferdinand Hodler, Giovanni Giacometti, and Cuno Amier.

Schmidt was also a notable patron of the arts, lending his collection to many exhibitions during his lifetime and bequeathing a large number of important Luristan bronzes to the Rietbeg Museum in Zurich (published in 1992 in Judith Rickenback’s Magicians with Fire and Ore. Bronze Art of the Early Mountain People in Luristan, Iran). Upon his death in 1970, the collection was left to his sister Erica. Peters-Schmidt donated her brother’s collection of over 340 Near Eastern cylinder and stamp seals to the Biblical Institute of the University of Fribourg in 1981, and gave other portions of the collection to the University of Fribourg and the Archaeological Museums in Zurich, Solothurn, and Basel.

Belt Plaque