Silver Cup with Guilloche and Rosette Design

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Silver Cup with Guilloche and Rosette Design

Place of OriginProbably Greece, 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 deep, hemispherical silver bowl (mastos) with a rounded base and no foot or handles. The exterior decoration is organized in a radial pattern springing from a central five-petaled rosette on the bottom. The body features alternating motifs of smooth, pointed lotus leaves and grouped, fluted acanthus leaves. The background is chased with delicate floral scrolls. The rim is encircled by a guilloche band (interlaced ribbons) flanked by beading. Traces of original parcel-gilding remain on the rosette, the floral petals, and the guilloche band. The interior is undecorated and smooth, showing signs of lathe-turning.

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.

Comparative ReferencesCf. Künzl, Ernst, "Antike Silbergefäße im RGZM," Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz 20, 1973, pp. 183–186.