bowl

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Object Type
Museum number: 1994,0127.1
Description: Silver bowl: hammered from a single thick piece of sheet, with embossed decoration showing a stylized lotus-flower design on the interior. There is an inscription of Artaxerxes I (465-424 BC) in punched Old Persian cuneiform in a single line around the inner rim.
Authority
Cultures/periods
Production date: 464BC-424BC
Materials
Technique: hammered; punched; embossed
Dimensions: Diameter: 28.90 centimetres; Height: 4.70 centimetres; Weight: 804.10 grammes (equivalent to 145 sigloi at 5.55)
$Inscriptions
Inscription subject
Curator's comments: One of four authenticated silver bowls said to be from Hamadan which were first recorded in c. 1932 and carrying identical inscriptions referring to Artaxerxes. Their individual weights are 166.66, 140, 145 and 127.5 'sigloi' according to the heavier weight standard of c. 5.40-5.56 g which was introduced in the first half of the 5th century BC, but according to the lighter standard of c. 5.20-5.49 g, all four bowls weigh some 600 'sigloi' at 5.44 g. The other bowls are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Freer Gallery, Washington, and the Reza Abbasi Collection in Tehran. The authenticity of the text has sometimes been questioned because of the inclusion of the words 'batugaza' for wine-cup and 's-i-y-m-m' for silver, which are not otherwise attested in Old Persian inscriptions.
Bibliographic references: Curtis, Cowell & Walker 1995a / A Silver Bowl of Artaxerxes I; Muscarella O W 2000a / The Lie Became Great: The Forgery of Ancient Near Eastern Cultures (pp. 61, 207, no. 13, endnote 24); Vickers M 1996a / Rock crystal: the key to cut glass and 'diatreta' in Persia and Rome (p.55) (comments on the weight); Vickers M 2002 / "Shed No Tears"? Three Studies in Ancient Metrology (pp. 335-36); Sims-Williams N 2001a / The inscriptions on the Miho bowl and some comparable objects (regards the inscription as added); Allen 2005a / The Persian Empire: A History (p.88); Curtis & Tallis 2005 / Forgotten Empire: The world of Ancient Persia (cat. 103, p. 114); Curtis 1997a / Mesopotamia and Iran in the Persian Period: Conquest and Imperialism 539-331 BC (Proceedings of a Seminar in memory of Vladimir G. Lukonin) (pl.3); Herzfeld 1935 / Eine Silberschüssel Artaxerxes I; Kent 1953 / Old Persian: Grammar, Texts, Lexicon, (A1I); Curtis 2000a / Ancient Persia (fig. 62); Treister M 2009a / Silver Phialai from the Prokhorovka Burial-mound No. 1 (p.97, fig. 9)
Location: Not on display
Exhibition history: Exhibited: 2006 7 Mar-11 Jun, Barcelona, Fundacion La Caixa, 'L'imperi Oblidat' 2005-2006 Sept-Jan, London, BM, 'Forgotten Empire' 1995-2005 17 Nov-Aug, BM, G52/IRAN/7. from official opening 1994 BM, G49/IRAN/7
Associated names: Named in inscription: Artaxerxes I; Named in inscription: Xerxes I; Named in inscription: Darius I
Acquisition name
Funder name: With contribution from: Art Fund (as NACF); With contribution from: British Museum Friends (as British Museum Society); With contribution from: Friends of the Ancient Near East
Acquisition date: 1994
Department: Middle East
Registration number: 1994,0127.1
Conservation: Treatment: 01 Feb 2005; Treatment: 08 Jun 1994

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