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A Sasanian silver bowl image 1
A Sasanian silver bowl image 2
Various Properties
Lot 132

A Sasanian silver bowl

1 December 2020, 11:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £4,080 inc. premium

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A Sasanian silver bowl
Circa 6th-7th Century A.D.
The heavy bowl with carinated body, the tondo with the simurgh facing right, claws outstretched, the tail curving upwards behind, 12.8cm diam.

Footnotes

Provenance:
Oliver Hoare (1945-2018) collection, UK, acquired prior to 1990.

For another Sasanian plate featuring a simurgh see O. Muscarella, Bronze and Iron; Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988, p. 298, no. 426.

The simurgh is a mythical animal from Iranian mythology. Said to be large enough to carry an elephant, the simurgh was first depicted as having the head of a dog and body of a peacock and was later merged with the Chinese phoenix, taking on more bird-like qualities (E. Sims, Peerless Images: Persian Painting and Its Sources, New Haven, 2002, p. 165, no. 80). She is a benevolent and loving animal who is most known from the story of Prince Zal, who is rejected and exposed by his father for being albino and is rescued, suckled and raised by the simurgh.

Additional information

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