Ancient Near East / Central Asia, Sasanian (Sassanian / Sassanid) Empire, ca. 2nd to 7th century CE. A beautiful example of a large gilded bronze bowl, the exterior decorated with lightly incised concentric circles around the upper and lower body and a stippled line of dots within a fine border just below the exterior rim. The interior is ungilded, aged to a rich green patina, with three concentric circles incised in tondo. The Sasanian elite valued beautiful metal objects, especially those that either were or looked like silver and gold. Many of these objects drew inspiration from Greco-Roman artwork, but others, like this bowl, had more abstract motifs. Sasanian artistic culture, in turn, spread along the Silk Road, influencing metalwork in western Iran and the Caspian Sea, and bowls like this one have been found as far afield as the eastern coast of China. Size: 10.6" W x 5" H (26.9 cm x 12.7 cm)

Provenance: private Ventura County, California, USA collection

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#129163

Encrustation on surface, especially on interior. One side has an area of impact damage, but the encrustation on the interior holds these pieces firmly together and they are in no danger of breaking. Nice dark green patina on ungilded surfaces, with much gilding remaining.