A Seljuq carved stone panel, region of Hamadan, Persia, late 12th-early 13th century

of rectangular form with an added stepped section to one side, carved in relief with a depiction of a lion attacking a bull, with two smaller quadrupeds, part of a quadruped visible on upper section with palmette carved above, the edge featuring a carved interlaced design between two columns, the other side with a pattern of overlapping and entwined circles also with quadruped and palmette motifs in upper section, mounted on a rectangular base 

Good condition, break in centre with associated restoration, including some infill, some rubbing and abrasion to surface consistent with age, as viewed.
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This large panel belongs to a series of panels, twelve of which were acquired by Emile Vigner in Mohajeran, a small village six kilometres north of Hamadan in Western Persia. Brought to Europe in 1912, most are now in Western museums (Nasiri-Moghaddam 2004, p. 275). Even though their original use is unclear, it has been suggested that these could have once belonged to balustrades or staircase side panels, or had a funerary use.

These Seljuk masterpieces, bearing animal and geometrical motifs, are almost always carved on both sides, as well as at the ends, and have been studied extensively by Eva Baer (Baer 1967). On one side of the panel, between two quadrupeds, a lion is depicted fighting a bull, whilst the other side features interlaced circles. The theme of the lion and bull was originally associated with Ancient Mesopotamian astrology, the scholar Richard Ettinghausen relating it to the constellations Taurus and Leo, which played an important role in the Zoroastrian calendar. They are particularly linked to Norouz, the first day of spring and the Iranian New Year (Clévenot and Degeorge 2000, p.130, no.183).

This motif, as well as other symbolic animal designs, is often found on Seljuq architecture, and a similar example is depicted on the portal of the Great Mosque of Diyarbakr, dating to the twelfth century (illustrated in: ibid, p.130, no.183). It is also close to the design on a panel now in the Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin (Brisch 1979, no. 487, p. 129, illus. 69).