Silver Cup with Guilloche and Rosette Design

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Silver Cup with Guilloche and Rosette Design

Place of Originreportedly Greeece; possibly Iran

Date150-100 BCE

DimensionsH: 2 7/16 in. (6.2 cm); Diam: 4 3/8 in. (11.1 cm); Weight: 305.5 grams

MediumSilver, cast, chased, and lathe-turned, with gilding .

ClassificationMetalwork

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1976.15

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

DescriptionA hemispherical silver cup with chased floral motifs, pointed petals, and fluted designs. Decorative elements include a guilloche pattern, a central rosette, and traces of gilding on specific areas.

Label TextAlthough the vendor of this cup claimed it was found in Thessaloniki, Greece, stylistic and technical comparisons now suggest the cup may be part of the same group as the so-called Nihavand hoard, discovered in Nihavand (Nahavand), western Iran, around 1910–1911. The Nihavand hoard is associated with the aristocratic Kāren-Pahlav family, one of the seven great houses of Arsacid Iran, who maintained prominence in the region from as early as 124 BCE under Mithradates I of Parthia through the Sasanian period. This hoard comprises objects that illustrate the blending of Hellenistic, Achaemenid, and Arsacid traditions, a synthesis reflected in the Toledo Museum’s silver cup with its floral motifs, fluted patterns, and traces of gilding. The Nihavand hoard includes several related objects now housed in major collections, including silver bowls in Stockholm (MM 1974:037), Berlin (Antikensammlung inv. 31425), Mainz, and the Al-Sabah Collection in Kuwait, which contains a pair of silver bowls with similar fluting and floral decorations. The hoard is thought to have also included two gold clasps with eagles, one now in the British Museum (1927,1117.1), the other in the Metropolitan Museum in New York (17.190.2055).Published ReferencesPutney, Richard H. and Paula Reich, Glass in Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 2007, repr. p. 12.

Pfrommer, Michael. Metalwork from the Hellenized East : catalogue of the collections, Malibu, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1993, pp. 33-34, fig. 30, 37, 52, 84 n. 302, 85 n. 322, fig. 30.

Carter, Martha, Arts of the Hellenized East: Precious Metalwork and Gems of the Pre-Islamic Era, London, Thames & Hudson, 2015, p. 65, repr. (col.) fig. 2.1.