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Cup with a frieze of gazelles

ca. early 1st millennium BCE
Not on view
A number of vessels similar in form and technique to this one have been excavated in the rich burials at Marlik, a site southwest of the Caspian Sea in northern Iran; one is also known from Susa, in southwestern Iran.

On the body of the cup, four gazelles, framed horizontally by guilloche bands, walk in procession to the left. Their bodies are rendered in the repoussé technique and are detailed with finely chased lines to indicate hair and musculature. The projecting heads were made separately, as were the ears and horns, and were fastened invisibly in place by a colloid hard-soldering, a process much practiced in Iran involving glue and copper salt. The hooves and eyes are indented, probably to receive inlays.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Cup with a frieze of gazelles
  • Period: Iron Age II
  • Date: ca. early 1st millennium BCE
  • Geography: Northwestern Iran, Caspian region
  • Culture: Iran
  • Medium: Gold
  • Dimensions: H. 2 1/2 in. (6.5 cm)
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1962
  • Object Number: 62.84
  • Curatorial Department: Ancient West Asian Art

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