
Francesca Hickin
Head of Department
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Sold for £4,080 inc. premium
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Head of Department

Associate Specialist
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.