1809 or 1810, found by Franciszek Wolański (b. 1780) on the land of Stanislaw Kostka Zwoliński (1780-1840), in Khoniakiv (also known as Choniakow in Polish), Volhynian Governate of the Russian empire, present day Ukraine; until 1890s, collection of Zwoliński family (for more details, see Hensellek 2023); 1890s, purchased by Dr. Józef Gostyński, L'viv; by descent, with his widow Maria Gostyńska; date unknown, gift to her daughter H. Kurmanowicz née Gostyńska, and her husband Łukasz Kurmanowicz, Zhovkva (Żółkiew in Polish), present day Ukraine; between 1918-1926, sold by Łukasz Kurmanowicz to Dr. Alexander Kahanowicz; [1926, purchased by Joseph Brummer from Alexander Kahanowicz, Brooklyn (Brummer inv. no. N1144)]; acquired by the Museum in 1947, purchased from the estate of Joseph Brummer, New York.
“International Exhibition of Persian Art.” Royal Academy of Arts, London, January 7, 1931–March 7, 1931.
"Les Arts de l'Iran, l'Ancienne Perse et Bagdad." Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, 1938.
“Exhibition of Six Thousand Years of Persian Art,” The American Institute of Iranian Art and Archaeology, New York, April 24–July 1, 1940.
"Sasanian Silver: Late Antique and Early Medieval Arts of Luxury From Iran." University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, August-September 1967.
“The Grand Gallery,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, October 19, 1974–January 5, 1975.
"Wealth of the Roman World. Gold and Silver AD 300-700." The British Museum, London, April 1, 1977–October 1, 1977.
“Weihrauch und Seide: Alte Kulturen an der Seidenstraße.” Palais Harrach, Vienna, January 21, 1996–April 14, 1996.
“Les Perses Sassanides: Fastes D’Un Empire Oublié, 224-642,” Musée Cernuschi, Paris, September 15, 2006–December 30, 2006.
“Glass, Gilding, and Grand Design: Art of Sasanian Iran (224-642),” Asia Society, New York, February 14, 2007–May 20, 2007.
Kraszewski, Józef Ignacy. 1860. Sztuka u Słowian: szczególnie w Polsce i Litwie przedchrześcijańskiej [in Polish; Art of the Slavs: Particularly in Pre-Christian Poland and Lithuania]. Vilnius: Nakład wydawnictwa drukarni A. H. Kirkora, p. 352.
Lepszy, Leonard (ed.) 1904. Katalog wystawy zabytków metalowych: w połączeniu z zabytkami cechów krakowskich: otwartej w miesiącu wrześniu 1904 roku [in Polish; Exhibition Catalog of Metalwork: Held in Conjunction with the Work of the Kraków Guilds: Opened in September 1904]. Kraków: W. L. Anczyc, no. 667.
Bienkowski, Pierre. 1929. "O Skarbie Srebrnym z Choniakowa na Wolyniu (Dépôt d'objets d'Argent de Choniakow en Volhynie)." Swiatowit (Annuaire du Musée Archéologique Erasme Majewski de la Société des Sciences et des Lettres de Varsovie) 13, pp. 148-181.
Pijoan, José. 1931. Summa Artis, Historia General del Arte, vol. II, Arte del Asia Occidental. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, fig. 709.
Wilson, Arnold T. 1931. Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Persian Art. London: Royal Academy of Arts, p. 11, no. Z.
Illustrated London News. 1931. "Treasures of Persian Art at the Royal Academy." (January 10, 1931), p. 37.
Przeworski, Stefan. 1931a. "Bibliographie: [review of] O Skarbie Srebrnym z Choniakowa na Wolyniu by Pierre Bienkowski." Syria 12 (3), pp. 291-292, fig. 4.
Przeworski, Stefan. 1931b. “Na tropie skarbu z Choniakowa: z dziejów potajemnego wywozu starożytności z Polski” [in Polish; On the Trail of the Khoniakiv Treasure: A History of the Clandestine Export of Antiquities from Poland], Przegląd Literacki 2, no. (May 1931): 3.
Kostrzewski, Józef. 1931. “Nielegalny wywóz zabytków z Polski” [in Polish; The Illegal Export of Monuments from Poland] Z otchłani wieków: dwumiesięcznik poświęcony pradziejom Polski 6, no. 4–5 (July-October 1931): 70–71.
Corbin, Henry et al. 1938. Les Arts de l'Iran, l'Ancienne Perse et Bagdad, exh. cat. Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, p. 36, no. 25, pl. II.
Pope, Arthur U. 1938. A Survey of Persian Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 355, pl. 109.
Ackerman, Phyllis. 1940. Guide to the Exhibition of Persian Art. New York: The Iranian Institute, p. 321, no. 33.
Ettinghausen, Richard. 1940. ""Six Thousand Years of Persian Art" the Exhibition of Iranian Art New York, 1940." Ars Islamica 7, pp. 114-115, fig. 13.
Tuchelt, K. 1962. Tiergefässe in Kopf- und Protomengestalt : Untersuchungen zur Formengeschichte tierförmiger Giessgefässe. Berlin: Gebr. Mann, p. 59, fig. 15.
Frye, Richard N. 1963. The Heritage of Persia. New York: Mentor Books, figs. 59, 62.
Grabar, Oleg. 1967. "An Introduction to the Art of Sasanian Sillver." In Sasanian Silver: Late Antique and Early Medieval Arts of Luxury From Iran, exh. cat. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Museum of Art, p. 131, no. 48 (ill), p. 43, p. 71.
Forsyth, William H. 1974. "Acquisitions from the Brummer Gallery." In The Grand Gallery at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 3.
Kent, J.P.C. and K.S. Painter (ed.). 1977. Wealth of the Roman World. Gold and Silver AD 300-700, exh. cat. The Trustees of the British Museum, p. 152, no. 319.
Seipel, Wilfried. 1996. Weihrauch und Seide: Alte Kulturen an der Seidenstraße, exh. cat. Kunsthistorisches Museum. Milan, Vienna: Skira, p. 235, no. 82.
Harper, Prudence O. 2006. “Rhyton. Tête d’Antilope Saïga.” In Les Perses Sassanides: Fastes D’un Empire Oublié, 224-642, exh. cat. edited by Franҫoise Demange. Paris: Paris Musées, no. 59, pp. 119-120.
Harper, Prudence O. 2006. In Search of a Cultural Identity: Monuments and Artifacts of the Sasanian Near East, 3rd to 7th Century A.D. Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series No. 2. New York: Bibliotheca Persica, pp. 138, 158-9, figs. 85-6.
Harper, Prudence O. 2007. "Wine Vessel in the Form of a Saiga Antelope Head." In Glass, Gilding & Grand Design: Art of Sasanian Iran (224-642), exh. cat. edited by Franҫoise Demange. New York: The Asia Society, p. 43, no. 10.
Manassero, Nicolò. 2008. Rhyta e corni potori dall’Età del Ferro all’epoca sasanide: libagioni pure e misticismo tra la Grecia e il mondo iranico. BAR International Series 1750. Oxford: John and Erica Hedges Ltd., pp. 220, 232, no. 8.3.
Hensellek, Betty. 2019. "A Sogdian Drinking Game at Panjikent." Iranian Studies 52 (5-6), pp. 845-50, fig. 5.
Dunn-Vaturi, Anne and Martina Rugiadi. 2023. "The Brummer Gallery and the Making of Iranian and Islamic Arts." In The Brummer Galleries, Paris and New York: Defining Taste from Antiquities to the Avant-Garde, edited by Christine Brennan, Christel Hollevoet-Force, and Yaëlle Biro. Boston: Brill, p. 417, n. 19 and Table 10.1, no. 37.
Hensellek, Betty. 2023."The Many Lives of the Silver Saiga Rhyton in the Metropolitan Museum of Art." In Henry P. Colburn, Betty Hensellek, Judith A. Lerner (eds.), In Search of Cultural Identities in West and Central Asia: A Festschrift for Prudence Oliver Harper, IAAA 3. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 99-113.
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
Includes more than 7,000 works ranging in date from the eighth millennium B.C. through the centuries just beyond the time of the Arab conquests of the seventh century A.D.
