An Achaemenid Silver-Gilt Rhyton, 400-330 B.C.

Baron Élie de Rothschild (1917-2007), Paris, acquired in the early 1950s

French private collection, by descent

acquired by the present owner from the above

Published

Pierre Amandry, "Truly Royal Persian Gold: Some Recently Found Masterpieces,"The Illustrated London News, December 27th, 1958, pp. 1141, figs. 9-11

Pierre Amandry, "Toreutique achéménide," Antike Kunst, vol. 2, 1959, pp. 48-50, pls. 24-25

Roman Ghirshman and Moshène Foroughi, eds., Sept mille ans d'art en Iran, exh. cat., Petit-Palais, Paris, 1961, no. 675, pl. LIII

Roman Ghirshman, The Arts of Ancient Iran from its Origins to the Time of Alexander the Great, New York, 1964, fig. 307

Edith Porada, Ancient Iran: The Art of Pre-Islamic Times, 1965, p. 169, pl. 49

E. Haerinck, "Twinspotted Vessels and their Distribution in the Near East from the Achaemenian to the Sasanian Periods, Iran, vol. 18, 1980, p. 43, fig. 2.2

M. Pfrommer, "Ein achämenidisches Amphorenrhyton mit ägyptischem Dekor," Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran, vol. 23, 1990, pp. 196 and 199-200

S. A. Paspalas, "A Persianizing Cup from Lydia," Oxford Journal of Archaeology, vol. 19/2, 2000, p. 142, no. 10

L. Summerer, "Achämenidische Silberfunde aus der Umgebung der Sinope," Ancient Civilisations, vol. 9/1-2, 2003, p. 32, fig. 10

Mikhail Treister, "The Toreutics of Colchis in the 5th-4th Centuries B.C. Local Traditions, Outside Influences", A. Ivantchik and V. Licheli, Achaemenid Culture and Local Traditions in Anatolia, Southern Caucasus, and Iran. New Discoveries, 2007, p. 98, note 111

Ellen Rehm, "The Classification of Objects from the Black Sea Region Made or Influenced by the Achaemenids," Jens Nielling and Ellen Rehm, eds., Achaemenid Impact in the Black Sea. Communication of Powers (Black Sea Studies, vol. 11), 2010, note 89

Athanasios Sideris, "A Lydian Silver Amphora with Zoomorphic Handles," Studia Hercynia, vol. 20/1, 2016, p. 20, pl. 2/10

Christie's, London, Masterpieces from a Rothschild Collection, July 4th, 2019, watercolour by Alexandre Serebriakoff (1907-1995) showing the present lot on the shelves of the Salon Vert at a Rothschild residence in Paris

J. Spier in: J. Spier, T. Potts, and S. E. Cole, eds., Persia: Ancient Iran and the Classical World, Los Angeles, 2022, pp. 100-101

Exhibited

"Sept mille ans d'art en Iran," Petit-Palais, Paris, October 1961-January 1962

The present vase combines two wine vessel forms characteristic of the Achaemenid Empire: the amphora, with its ovoid body and twin zoomorphic handles, and the rhyton, with its spouts at the bottom. For a related example in the Getty Museum see Spier, op. cit, 2022, pp. 100-101 (https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103WEV). On earlier Achaemenid amphorae a spout projects from one of the handles: for actual vessels see In Pursuit of the Absolute. Art of the Ancient World. The George Ortiz Collection, 1996, no. 205 (https://www.georgeortiz.com/objects/achaemenid/205-amphora/), and Die alte Zivilisation Bulgariens. Das Gold der Thraker, Basel, 2007, p. 176, cat. no. 12; for their representation on reliefs at Persepolis, see the East staircase of the Apadana (https://www.cabinet.ox.ac.uk/apadana-tribute-reliefs-0).

For a related silver-gilt winged ibex handle in the Louvre see Spier, op. cit., 2022, p. 101, no. 14 (https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010151783). Also see a handle from the Oxus Treasure in the British Museum. no. 123911 (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1897-1231-10).

The most complete discussion of the present vessel to date, including its typology, workmanship, iconography, date, and possible origins on the southeastern coast of the Black Sea, is still Pierre Amandry's in his 1959 ground-breaking study of Achaemenid silverware. His detailed description of the vessel remains unsurpassed: "Since the liquid can be poured from the bottom of the 'amphora', the [handle] spout is no longer needed; the handles themselves have lost their tubular shape. The body of both leaping ibexes, as they stand confronted on either side of the vase, is fully modelled, and their hindlegs are detached from each other. Both turn their heads slightly to the right. The forelegs are folded over with the knees attached to a small plate riveted to the rim of the vase. The hindlegs rest on a roughly square plate, with a small extension for insertion of two rivets. Both the eyebrows and eyelids are in high relief, as are the collar, which extends from the ears to the corners of the mouth, and the rings encircling the horns. The decoration is mostly engraved: numerous parallel lines, thin and close together, striate the snout, collar, beard, inside of the ears, base of the horns, articulations, hooves, and tail. The coat is indicated by long striated locks, wavy and curving back to a point, covering most of the body: eight un-gilded ones on the abdomen, and eighteen, all gilded, on the back (...). These two beasts are, in and of themselves, of great beauty. Furthermore, they merge intimately with the rhythm of the vase. Their spring prolongs and expands the ascending movement of the grooves" (Amandry 1959, pp. 49-50, transl. from the French).

Fittingly, this wine vessel was formerly in the collection of Baron Elie De Rothschild who “oversaw the restoration of and ascent of the renowned wine estate Château Lafite Rothschild, and had a major role in the rebuilding of the fine wine market after World War II" (Eric Asimov, "Baron Elie de Rothschild is Dead at 90," The New York Times, August 7th, 2007).