IRAN, CIRCA 8TH-6TH CENTURY B.C.

Details

A PERSIAN SILVER DRINKING CUP
IRAN, CIRCA 8TH-6TH CENTURY B.C.
3 ¾ in. (9.5 cm.) diam.

Provenance

Ernest Erickson (1893-1983), New York, acquired prior to 1954.
Property of the Ernest Erickson Foundation; Sotheby's, New York, 28 November 1990, lot 136.
with Robin Symes, London and New York, 2000 (Bull Leapers to Picasso).

Literature

J. Coolidge (ed.), Ancient Art in American Private collections, Cambridge, Mass., 1954, p.24, pl. XXXI, no. 108.

Exhibited

Cambridge, Massachusetts, The Fogg Art Museum, Ancient Art in American Private Collections, 28 Dec 1954 - 15 Feb 1955.
Bull Leapers to Picasso, New York, 6-15 December 2000.

Further details

US clients wishing to buy this lot, and any persons wishing to import it into the USA, should contact Christie’s prior to placing a bid. Due to current Iranian sanctions, transactions involving certain Iranian-origin property may require authorization from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to be shipped to the USA. Christie’s has an OFAC General License that enables these imports, subject to certain conditions and disclosures to OFAC. Please contact Christie’s for further information.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Claudio Corsi Specialist, Head of Department

ccorsi@christies.com +44 (0) 20 7389 2607

Lot Essay

The shoulder is decorated with a band of tongues either side of a convex band of guilloche, whilst the walls of the lower body are fluted. Another smaller band of guilloche encircles the lower body just above the low foot, and the underside is decorated with a sixteen petalled rosette with alternating plain and scale-pattern petals. The shape is the forerunner of the Achaemenid deep bowls with tall flaring rims that become popular in the later Greek world. For an identical bowl in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, catalogued as Iranian, early 1st millennium B.C., acquired in 1950, see acc. no: 50.142.

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