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Bowl

Culture Sasanian
Title Bowl
Date 500–650 CE
Medium Silver and gold
Dimensions Object: 3 3/8 × 5 15/16 in. (8.6 × 15.1 cm)
Overall: 3 3/8 × 5 15/16 in. (8.7 × 15.2 cm)
Credit Line Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University
Accession Number 75.22.1

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About this Work

Finely crafted silver vessels were valued as prestige items, and they were often further embellished with gilding (added gold) and niello (a black mixture of sulfur, silver, copper, and sometimes lead, used to fill engraved lines on silver plate). This kind of inlay was practiced during the Roman Imperial period and was further developed in the Byzantine East. A Sassanian craftsman used it to great advantage in the interior roundel of this silver bowl.


1975, Indiana University Art Museum purchase from Robin Symes, London, England

ca. 1970–1975, with Robin Symes, London, England [1]

unknown dates, Wolfe Collection [2]

Notes:

[1] Robin Symes (b. 1939) operated as an art and antiquities dealer in London from about 1970. Robin Symes Limited was founded in 1977 and dissolved in 2005.

[2] Provenance reference supplied by Robin Symes [letter in curatorial files].

Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

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"Bowl | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2024. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=75.22.1