Parthian Trumpet-Shaped Rhyton with a Goat Head

Culture: Parthian

Period: 3rd-1st century B.C.

Material: Terracotta

Dimensions: 26.4 cm high

Price: 4 000 Euro

Ref: 6611

Provenance: Austrian private collection Prof. Josef Mairitsch (1938-1994) with the inventory number 28A. Acquired between 1960 and the early 1980s. Thence in the family estate WIth a copy of the inventory list.

Condition: Horns reattached, otherwise very beautifully preserved.

Description: Large terracotta rhyton with a high rising, trumpet-shaped body and zoomorphic handle in the form of a goat. The animal with s-shaped wavy, raised horns, which are decorated on the outside with incised lines. The head with a round snout, pierced nostrils and a mouth formed to a smile. The eyes tapering, the ears large and placed backwards. The goat has a strong, rounded nape, which are reminiscent of the older Achaemenid animal rhytons. The thin legs are angled at the front and folded backwards. The hindlegs protrude as stubs to support the vessel’s stability. Goats are in the Middle Eastern art symbols of future planning and prediction. On the one hand they were sacrifical animals, on the other side they served as libation vessels such as the present one, as a symbolic gift for the gods. See for the role of the goat: Merida Smuts “Goats in the Ancient Near East and Their Relationship with the Mythology, Fairytale and Folklore of These Cultures”, 10.5772/IntechOpen.82531, 2019. See for the type Christie’s London auction of 25 October 2012, lot 20. As well as for the depiction of the animal head the rhyton in the Louvre with the inventory number AO 22004. From Ardabil in northwestern Iran.