Sunday, March 31, 2013
"Parthian Drinking Vessels"
10:14am

I've been continuing digging in old photo folders, finding all sorts of lovely things!


Spouted Horn with a Stag
Eastern Seleucid Empire, Parthian, about 50 B.C.E - C.E. 50
Gilt silver, garnet, glass
Dimensions: H: 27.5 x Diam. (rim): 12.7 x L: 46 cm (10 13/16 x 5 x 18 1/8 in.)
Getty Museum, Object Number: 86.AM.753
From Info card:
"Covered with an exuberant floral pattern, this rhyton (spouted horn) ends in the body of a stag. The spout, through which wine would have been aerated, emerged from between the stag's legs. The head needed repair at one time, and one eye has been replaced. A Parthian inscription on the stag's belly indicates that the rhyton was given as a gift to a god at a sanctuary."
From Info card:
PARTHIAN SILVER VESSELS
"The cups, bowls, and drinking horns displayed in this case are associated by their style with the kingdom of Parthia. This region of the Middle East was ruled by the Greeks after Alexander the Great's conquests in the 330s and 320s B.C. Greek cultural influence endured when Bactria (present day Afghanistan) came under the rule of a semi-nomadic groups called the Parni (or Parthians). In the second century B.C. their territories expanded to include much of Mesopotamia as well."


Closer view of head


Vessel behind the rhyton (All photos © Joan Ann Lansberry)

It was displayed in 2009 upside down so we can see the bottom's details, the museum website photo shows it right side up.
I showed the net pattern bowl from this group earlier.


The floor in this gallery room has a very pleasing pattern.
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