老虎（？）雕像 - 美国大都会艺术博物馆展品查阅

品名（中）	老虎（？）雕像
品名（英）	Tiger (?) figurine
入馆年号	1963年，63.102.20
策展部门	古代近东艺术（Ancient Near Eastern Art）
创作者
创作年份	公元前 3100
创作地区
分类
尺寸	2 x 3.25 英寸 (5.08 x 8.26 厘米)
介绍（中）	这个残缺的雕像缺少前腿、后躯和部分面部。然而，它的头部和耳朵的形状以及红橙色身体上的深色垂直条纹暗示着老虎的样子这尊雕像是在伊朗东北部的Yarim Tepe发掘的，位于现代城镇Gonbad-e Kavus以南六英里处。Yarim Tepe是一个小定居点，从新石器时代到帕提亚时期都有人居住，有很多中断。这尊雕像可能可以追溯到铜器时代，因为在该遗址发掘的织物和颜色相似的陶器也属于这一时期老虎在古代世界鲜为人知。它们在美索不达米亚、赫梯和希腊文学中只是顺便提及，除了这一篇之外，没有任何关于它们的描述。然而，伊朗的这一地区是里海虎的家园，里海虎于公元20世纪末灭绝。因此，这尊雕像可能是已知最早的老虎形象。
介绍（英）	This fragmentary figurine is missing its forelegs, hindquarters and parts of its face. Yet the shape of its head and ears and the dark vertical stripes on its reddish-orange body suggest the appearance of a tiger. The figurine was excavated at Yarim Tepe in northeastern Iran, six miles south of the modern town of Gonbad-e Kavus. Yarim Tepe was a small settlement, inhabited from the Neolithic to the Parthian period, with many interruptions. This figurine likely dates to the Chalcolithic period, since pottery with similar fabric and coloring excavated at the site belongs to this period as well. Tigers are little known in the ancient world. They are mentioned in Mesopotamian, Hittite and Greek literature only in passing, and no representations of them are known except for this one. This part of Iran was, however, home to the Caspian tiger, which went extinct in the late twentieth century A.D. Thus this figurine may be the earliest known image of a tiger.