Disk

Object Details

• Description

  The surface is entirely covered with an extended inhabited vine. At the bottom, a segment of a circle is filled with a scale pattern representing water, and populated with fish and birds; above is a stylized mountain formed by concentric lobes. From the central lobe rises a pair of vine stems which intertwine at three places before branching to right and left; the vine stems are flanked by rampant bears. The vines are heavily inhabited by birds in a variety of poses. In the lower right and left are jackals. Traces of gilding are preserved on the background and around the figures, indicating that the raised decoration was originally gilded.

  Around the circumference on the surface are twelve perforations, each ca. 0.4 cm. in diameter, at approximately equal intervals, indicating that the objects was originally attached to another object or material.

• Label

  This large disk must have been secured to another material, such as leather or wood, by means of the circular perforations around its rim. Did it decorate a piece of furniture, for example? We do not know. Traces of gilding are preserved on the background and around the figures, indicating that the raised decoration was originally gilded.

  The decoration on the disk at least provides some clues to the date of manufacture. The composition of the decoration---inhabited vines with intertwined branches, flanked by rampant animals---is common in late Sasanian decorative arts. The patterned mountains from which the vines grow appear on a number of Sasanian silver vessels. Architectural stucco patterns of the fifth to seventh centuries preserve similar decorative patterns. The form and style of decoration thus suggest a date late in the Sasanian period, probably the seventh century.

• Collection

  Arthur M. Sackler Collection

• Exhibition History

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

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

• Origin

  Iran

• Credit Line

  Gift of Arthur M. Sackler

• Type

  Unclassified

• On View

  Sackler Gallery 21: Feast Your Eyes: A Taste for Luxury in Ancient Iran

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  600s, 700s

• Topic

  Gilding, Hammering, Silver, Art, Animals, Ancient Near Eastern Art, Fishes, Sasanian period (ca. 224 - 651), Birds, Chasing, Metal-work

• Culture

  Iranians, Middle Easterners

• Object Type

  Unclassified

• On View

  Yes