Object Details
Description
Bowl, shallow, silver on low ring foot, with a Bacchanalian triumphal scene in flat relief against a gilded background. Chased, engraved, and gilded.
Label
This complex scene, which decorates the interior of a shallow plate, testifies to the lively cultural interaction that took place between the eastern Mediterranean and Central Asia in the first millennium. In the center, the Greek god Dionysos (depicted here with female-like breasts) sits nexts to the princess Ariadne; to the right stands the hero Herakles. The plate depicts the triumphal arrival of the Greek god Dionysos in India. A popular subject of Roman imperial art, it was later depicted over a wide area of the Byzantine Empire in textiles, gemstones, and metalwork, and transferred through such portable media to neighboring Sasanian Iran.
Provenance
To 1964
Mahboubian Gallery of Ancient Art, Tehran, Iran and New York. [1]
From 1964
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Mahboubian Gallery of Ancient Art, Tehran, Iran and New York. [2]
Notes:
[1] Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List file after 1920, Collections Management Office.
[2] See note 1.
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Exhibition History
Feast Your Eyes: A Taste for Luxury in Ancient Iran (February 4, 2012 - ongoing)
Ancient Art of the Near East (November 21, 2009 to December 1, 2011)
Luxury Arts of the Silk Route Empires (May 9, 1993 to January 28, 2007)
Ancient Near Eastern Metalware (December 18, 1984 to February 24, 1986)
Pre-Islamic Metalwork from the Near East (April 15, 1983 to April 4, 1984)
Art of the Near East (August 21, 1977 to December 14, 1979)
Near Eastern Art (June 15, 1973 to May 7, 1975)
2500 Years of Persian Art—Paintings, Metalwork (February 10, 1972 to June 15, 1973)
Near Eastern Art—Paintings, Metalwork (August 18, 1967 to February 10, 1972)
Near Eastern Art (January 1, 1963 to August 18, 1967)
Previous custodian or owner
Mahboubian Gallery of Ancient Art
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Date
5th-7th century
Period
Sasanian period
Accession Number
F1964.10
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Vessel
Medium
Silver and gilt
Dimensions
H x Diam (overall): 4.5 × 22.1 cm (1 3/4 × 8 11/16 in)
Origin
Iran
On View
East Building (Arthur M. Sackler Gallery), Gallery 21: Feast Your Eyes: A Taste for Luxury in Ancient Iran
Related Online Resources
Google Arts & Culture
See more items in
National Museum of Asian Art
Data Source
National Museum of Asian Art
Topic
gilding
chasing
hammering
carving
engraving (incising)
metal
silver
Sasanian period (ca. 224 - 651)
Iran
Ancient Near Eastern Art
Link to Original Record
Record ID
fsg_F1964.10