A Sasanian gilt silver lobed dish

A Sasanian gilt silver lobed dish
Circa 6th-7th Century A.D.
On a high oval ring foot with deep elliptical dish, the lobes forming a twelve-petalled, scalloped flat rim, the vessel interior with remains of gilding, a punched inscription, presumably a weight, on the interior of the foot, 22.7cm long;

Provenance:
Private American collection, housed in Switzerland, from ca. 1960's.

These ornate gilded vessels were considered a luxury good in antiquity. They are thought to have been 'substantial and prestigious works', which 'reached distant lands as a form of propaganda or official gifts and as objects of barter or trade' (P.O. Harper, 'Boat-Shaped Bowls of the Sasanian Period', Iranica Antiqua, vol. XXIII, 1988, p.331). Vessels of this form, with varying degrees of decoration and gilding, have been discovered as far east as the Sogdian cities of Central Asia, and the form was replicated in later Chinese metalwork.