The king as hunter had become a standard royal image on silver plates during the reign of Shapur II (A.D. 310–379). The theme, symbolizing the prowess of Sasanian rulers, was used to decorate these royal plates, which were often sent as gifts to neighboring courts. The king has various royal attributes: a crown and fillet, covered globe, nimbus with beaded border, and beaded chest halter with fluttering ribbons. The identity of the Sasanian king on this plate is uncertain. His crown identifies him as either Peroz (r. 459–484) or Kavad I (r. 488–497, 499–531).
Sasanian silver bowls were usually hammered into shape and then decorated in various complex techniques. On this plate, separate pieces of silver were inserted into lips cut up from the plate to provide high relief. The vessel was then gilded using an amalgam of mercury and gold, which could be painted onto the surface, and niello—a metallic alloy of sulfur and silver—was inlaid. The result was a vessel of varied surface contours and colors.
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Title:Plate with king hunting rams
Period:Sasanian
Date:ca. mid-5th–mid-6th century CE
Geography:Iran, said at the time of the acquisition to have been found in Qazvin
Culture:Sasanian
Medium:Silver, mercury gilding, niello inlay
Dimensions:H. 1 7/8 in. (4.6 cm), Diam. 8 5/8 in. (21.9 cm)
Credit Line:Fletcher Fund, 1934
Object Number:34.33
By 1930, collection of Hagop K. Kevorkian, Paris and New York; 1930, exhibited at the Kaiser Friedrich Museum, Berlin; 1931, exhibited in the International Exhibition of Persian Art, London; 1933, exhibited at the Hermitage; acquired by the Museum in 1934, purchased from Hagop K. Kevorkian, New York.
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“Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, November 14, 1970–June 1, 1971.
“Gold,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, April 14–September 9, 1973.
“Wealth of the Roman World: Gold and Silver AD 300-700,” The British Museum, London, April 1–October 1, 1977.
“The Royal Hunter: Art of the Sasanian Empire,” Asia House Gallery, New York, The Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
“Splendeur des Sassanides: L’Empire Perse Entre Rome et la Chine,” Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels, February 12–April 25, 1993.
"Persia: Ancient Iran and the Classical World." The Getty Villa, Los Angeles, April 6, 2022–August 8, 2022.
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Canepa, Matthew P. 2024. “”Position and Honor”: Iranian Sartorial and Commensal Politics and the Transformation of the Afro-Eurasian Sensorium of Power.” In Persian Cultures of Power and the Entanglement of the Afro-Eurasian World, edited by Matthew P. Canepa, Issues and Debates. Los Angeles: Getty Publications, Getty Research Institute, p. 68, fig. 2.
Oudbashi, Omid, Layah Ziaii-Bigdeli, and Federico Carò. 2024. "Sasanian Niello Inlay: Microanalytical Investigation of a Silver Oval Bowl with Tigers and Grapevines." Studies in Conservation 20 May 2024, p. 5, https://doi.org/10.1080/00393630.2024.2350271
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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.
