Ewer decorated with female figures

Object Details

• Description

  Weight: 1167.4 g.

  On the body of the vessel are three female figures, each holding a pair of attributes: a flower and a bird, a peacock and a pyxis, and a child and a bowl of fruit. Each figure stands on a short, isolated "ground line." The figures are in three-quarter view. They have halos and topknots, and are dressed in a similar fashion. The figures wear a tight-fitting, long-sleeved garment whose fabric is decorated with a ring-punched pattern. A scarf or shawl is draped round the figure in front, at the upper thigh; the ends are wrapped around the forearms and fall in thick folds around the legs. The heads of the figures are adorned with a tiara-like headband which bears a central circular ornament, and they wear a necklace and earrings.

• Label

  Among the silver vessels made in Iran during the sixth and seventh centuries were pear-shaped vases and pouring vessels, or ewers, closely related in form and elaborate gilded decoration. The examples displayed here share the theme of females holding symbolic objects. The figures were modeled in part after Roman personifications of the Seasons and Months, and representations of female attendants in the cult of Dionysos, the Greek god of wine and ecstatic experience.

• Provenance

  To 1967

  R. & D. Anavian, Tehran, Iran [1]

  From 1967 to 1987

  Dr. Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987), New York, purchased from R. & D. Anavian on May 2, 1967 [1]

  From 1987

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, gift of Dr. Arthur M. Sackler, New York [2]

  Notes:

  [1] See invoice for purchase dated May 2, 1967 in object file, Collections Management.

  [2] Pursuant to the agreement between Dr. Arthur M. Sackler and the Smithsonian Institution, dated July 28, 1982, legal title of the donated objects was transferred to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery on September 11, 1987.

• Collection

  Arthur M. Sackler Collection

• Exhibition History

  Persia: Ancient Iran and the Classical World (April 6, 2022 to August 8, 2022)

  Feast Your Eyes: A Taste for Luxury in Ancient Iran (February 4, 2012 - ongoing)

  The Shahnama: 1000 Years of the Persian Book of Kings (October 23, 2010 to April 17, 2011)

  The Heroic Past: The Persian Book of Kings (June 4 to October 29, 2000)

  America's Smithsonian (February 9 to August 26, 1997)

  Nomads and Nobility: Art from the Ancient Near East (September 28, 1987 to November 1, 1992)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Dr. Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987)

  R. & D. Anavian

• Origin

  Iran

• Credit Line

  Gift of Arthur M. Sackler

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  700s, 500s

• Name

  Sackler, Arthur M., R. & D. Anavian

• Topic

  Gilding, Repoussé, Hammering, Art, Fruit, Birds, Flowers, Chasing, Metal-work, Silver, Peacock, Animals, Ancient Near Eastern Art, Sasanian period (ca. 224 - 651), Children, Woman

• Culture

  Iranians, Middle Easterners

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)