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Vessel terminating in the head of a ram

Period:
Iron Age III
Date:
ca. 7th–6th century B.C.
Geography:
Northwestern Iran
Culture:
Iran
Medium:
Silver
Dimensions:
14.5 x 8.44 in. (36.83 x 21.44 cm)
Classification:
Metalwork-Vessels
Credit Line:
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1955
Accession Number:
55.10
Not on view
In the ancient world the horns of animals were used as drinking vessels and provided a prototype for clay and metal containers. The bottom of this silver vessel consists of a carefully modelled ram’s head with stylized curled horns. Its impressive size, combined with the commanding power imbued in the ram, seems designed to convey the authority of those who were privileged to drink from it. Comparison with excavated material indicates that it was most likely produced in northwestern Iran, in the late seventh century B.C.

Expertise in silversmithing and a great sensitivity to the animal form characterize the metalwork of ancient Iran. This vessel began as a thick sheet or roughly shaped blank that gradually was hammered into the desired shape. Surface details such as the line around the ram’s nostrils and the hair pattern on the top of the animal’s head were added by punching and chasing, using metal tools to lightly strike the surface.
Acquired by the Museum in 1955, purchased from Khalil Rabenou, New York.

"Origin and Influence, Cultural Contacts: Egypt, the Ancient Near East, and the Classical World." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, December 18, 1970–April 23, 1971.

“Exchange Exhibition.” Kiev, Ukraine: Lavra Museum, May 1, 1975–September 30, 1975.

“The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Selections from the Collection of the Ancient Near East Department,” MOA Museum of Art, Atami, Japan, The Aiche Prefectural Art Gallery, Nagoya, Japan, The Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan, 1983.

"Earth, Sea, and Sky: Nature in Western Art; Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, October 6, 2012–January 4, 2013.

Illustrated London News. 1955. "Assyrian and Persian Gold and Silver: Masterpieces from Recent Dicoveries, in the Metropolitan Museum, New York." 16 Apr. 1955, p. 699.

Wilkinson, Charles K. 1956. "Two Ancient Silver Vessels." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 15, pp. 9-15.

von Saldern, Axel. 1959. "The Excavations at Gordion and their Importance for the History of Luxury-Glasses." Glastechnische Berichte 8, p.5, fig. 14.

Bandinelli, R.B., ed. Enciclopedia dell'Arte Antica, Vol. VI. 1965. Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, p. 677, fig. 782.

Wilkinson, Charles K. 1967. Two Ram-Headed Vessels from Iran. Bern: Abegg-Stiftung, pp. 14-15, fig. 6-7.

Harper, Prudence O. et al. 1983. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Selections from the Collection of the Ancient Near East Department, exh. cat. Tokyo: Chunichi Shimbun, no. 77.

Porada, Edith. 1989. "A Ram's Head from Iran in the Honolulu Academy of Arts." In Iranica et Orientalis: Miscellanea in Honorem Louis Vanden Berghe, edited by E. Haerinck and L. de Meyer. Gent: Peeters, p. 542, fig. 2.

De Laperouse, Jean-Francois. 2012. "Vessel Terminating in the Head of a Ram." In Earth, Sea, and Sky : Nature in Western Art; Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, exh. cat. Tokyo: Yomiuri Shimbun, no. 41, pp. 95, 224.

Timelines
Iran, 1000 B.C.-1 A.D.

Ancient Near Eastern Art (6,169)
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