Banqueting Plate with a Goddess

Place of OriginIran

Date6th-7th Century

Dimensions1 1/2 × 9 1/2 in. (3.8 × 24.1 cm)

MediumSilver

ClassificationMetalwork

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

Object number

2022.11

Not on View

DescriptionA shallow silver plate with a small base, its surface decorated in low relief. At the center stands a nude, crowned female figure, adorned with elaborate jewelry and framed by a billowing cloak. She is flanked by two winged boys at her feet and another pair lifting a veil above her. Two female attendants approach her, each holding a bird and small vessels, their long garments flowing above them in dramatic arcs. A stippled two-line Pahlavi inscription appears beneath the foot-ring.

Label TextThis silver plate from late Sasanian Iran (6th–7th century CE) was both a luxury item and a formal gift, likely given as a reward for service. An inscription in Middle Persian (called Pahlavi) etched on the back reads: “Āzād-ramīg, 71 staters, [a] reward,” suggesting it was presented to a noble figure named Ramīg. The scene on the front shows a crowned nude woman—once thought to be the Persian goddess Anahita, but now seen as inspired by the Greco-Roman goddess Aphrodite—flanked by attendants and winged children. The plate’s style blends Persian metalworking with Roman imagery, reflecting how cultures in the ancient world often borrowed and adapted from each other. Plates like this were used at elite banquets, called bazm in Persian, where aristocrats celebrated with elaborate rituals and gift-giving. This object reflects not only wealth and craftsmanship, but also the cultural diversity and international connections of the Sasanian Empire in its final centuries.Published ReferencesSundermann, Werner, Almut Hintze and Francois de Blois, eds., Exegisti monumenta Festschrift in Honour of Nicholas Sims-Williams, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 2009.

Apollo Magazine, March 2010.

Aimone, Marco, The Wyvern Collection, Byzantine and Sasanian Silver, Enamels and Works of Art, London, Thames & Hudson, 2020, n. 50, page 194-196.

Spier, Jeffrey, Timothy Potts and Sara E. Cole, eds., Persia: Ancient Iran and the Classical World, J. Paul Getty Museum, 2022, cat no. 184, pages 335-337, repr. col.

Exhibition HistoryLos Angeles, The Getty Villa, Persia: Ancient Iran and the Classical World, April 6–August 8, 2022.