Inlay for a plate in the form of a feline

This is one of two plaques in The Met’s collection (the other is 64.22.1) that are thought originally to have been inlaid in a silver plate now in the Iran National Museum, Tehran. Fragments of the plate were first reported in 1949 in Iran and said to be from the site of Ziwiye in the Zagros Mountains, in what is today Kurdistan Province, Iran.


Many gold, silver, bronze, ivory, and ceramic objects have appeared on the antiquities market with the supposed provenance of Ziwiye, although there is no way to verify this identification. The initial discovery by local villagers of a hoard or burial including gold and ivory objects at the site occurred in 1946. Accounts of the discovery and the objects’ early collecting history given by some of those involved are inconsistent regarding dates and other significant details. In addition, many objects have been attributed to Ziwiye in subsequent decades that do not necessarily come from the site, and many forgeries have also been given this false provenience. In almost all cases it is hard to be certain that a given object really was found at Ziwiye: the silver plate and its appliques may originate there but this cannot be confirmed unless new information comes to light.


The main body of the plate was purchased as several fragments and reassembled in the National Museum, Tehran. Individual inlay plaques are in collections internationally including The Met, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (66.388-390, and the Musée Cernuschi, Paris (M.C. 9264).


Small gold plaques such as this crouching feline, broadly Scythian in style and more commonly seen as appliques for clothing, were incorporated into a silver vessel as applied decoration in a manner more characteristic of later Achaemenid Persian court art that in turn drew on multiple regional artistic traditions including those of Assyria, Babylonia, and Urartu. Other objects attributed to Ziwiye feature Scythian, Assyrianizing, or Urartian iconography.