Sep Ancient Art & Paintings & Collectibles
Lot 245:
Description
D:39cm Wt:968g
Sasanian-Persian gilt-silver plate, 3rd-7th century, a major luxury metal vessel of the Sasanian court, its decoration continuing Achaemenid Persian artistic traditions. The plate face is organised in three concentric registers of dense, magnificent ornament. The central medallion features a standing royal figure wearing a tall crown, beneath the winged-sun disk (symbol of Ahura Mazda); the king raises a mace in one hand and holds a sacred branch in the other, flanked by a spear-bearing attendant and two kneeling subordinate figures, embodying divine kingship. The middle register is filled with lions, griffins, apes and other fabulous beasts in combat or pursuit, rendered with vivid animation. The outer register encircles the plate with scenes of warriors fighting lions, human-beast encounters and sacred-tree motifs, building a majestic hierarchical composition. The entire vessel is executed in repouss?? high relief; figures and beasts are modelled with vigorous forms and precise, fluent lines. The silver ground has darkened with age, the ornament is gilded, and mottled green verdigris survives across the surface. The Sasanian dynasty regarded itself as heir to the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Its silverware frequently employs multi-register concentric compositions to express royal authority and animal-combat themes; the winged-sun disk, sacred tree and human-beast struggle are canonical iconographic elements of Persian royal art. This plate exhibits exceptionally complex craftsmanship and rich decorative layering, making it an important surviving artefact of Sasanian precious-metal technique and royal ideology. Plate in good overall condition.
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