Handle, possibly for a spoon
This elaborate silver handle is decorated with the head of a calf at one end and the head of a lion at the other; a third creature, difficult to identify, emerges from the lion’s mouth. The creature’s long snout is split horizontally, and presumably the bowl of a spoon or another implement was originally inserted there,
A silver spoon with a loop handle decorated with the head of a duck was excavated at a palace at Pasargadae, the first capital of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. That spoon was likely used at the royal table, and probably this spoon was as well. There was a long history in Iran of decorating vessels with animal features, and the Achaemenids adopted and expanded this practice.
A silver spoon with a loop handle decorated with the head of a duck was excavated at a palace at Pasargadae, the first capital of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. That spoon was likely used at the royal table, and probably this spoon was as well. There was a long history in Iran of decorating vessels with animal features, and the Achaemenids adopted and expanded this practice.
Artwork Details
- Title: Handle, possibly for a spoon
- Period: Achaemenid
- Date: ca. 5th century BCE
- Geography: Iran (?)
- Culture: Achaemenid
- Medium: Silver
- Dimensions: Length: 3.94 in. (10.00 cm); Height: 1.22 in. (3.10 cm); Width: 0.43 in. (1.10 cm)
- Credit Line: Gift of Norbert Schimmel Trust, 1989
- Object Number: 1989.281.31
- Curatorial Department: Ancient West Asian Art
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Iran
ca. 7th–6th century BCE
Parthian
ca. 1st century BCE
Achaemenid
ca. 5th century BCE
Achaemenid
ca. 6th–4th century BCE
Iran
ca. 10th–8th century BCE
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