Achaemenid Silver Kyathos

Culture: Achaemenid

Period: 5th century B.C.

Material: Silver

Dimensions: 21 cm long

Price: Sold

Ref: 6440

Provenance: Esther Merrin collection, New York, USA, since the 1960s. Since then in a family estate.

Condition: At the bottom of the bowl minor traces of corrosion. On the handle, approximately in the centre a minor chip. Otherwise intact and of wonderful quality.

Description: Important Achaemenid silver kyathos with a flat bowl, rounded on the sides. At the start of the handle outside an engraved palmette. The vertical ribbed handle runs straight until it merges at the loop into a round cross-section with smooth surface. The final ring loop ends in a very finely worked out head of a veal with large eyes, flat, long ears, a closed round mouth with punched nostrils. Details on the whiskers, in the ears and around the eyes are finely carved. See for the type Christie’s London auction on 14 April 2011, lot 340. Mounted.