LOT 0246

Elamite Silver Beaker with Three Ibexes

CIRCA 1500-800 B.C.

4 3/4 in. (153 grams, 12 cm).

Raised from a single sheet with conical body and everted rim, three striding ibexes in repoussè, each with its head held up high and depicted with defined musculature and genitalia; band of ovule decoration above and below, three hanging flowers separating the ibexes; the base with a an eight-petalled flower; late Elamite or Marlik.

with Mahboubian Gallery, New York, acquired prior to 1966.
Property of a London gentleman.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate no.12161-218632.

See Negahban, E.O., A preliminary report on Marlik excavations, Gohar Rud Expedition, Rudbar, 1961-1962, Teheran, 1964; Moorey P.R.S., Bunker, C.M., Porada, E., Markoe, G., Ancient Bronzes Ceramics and seals, Los Angeles, 1981, fig.409; Mahboubian H., Art and civilization of Ancient Iran, 3000-2000 BC, Salisbury, 2004, nos.1-5, for similar; Muscarella, O.W., Archaeology, Artifacts and Antiquities of the Ancient Near East, Leiden, Boston, 2013; Oudbashi, O., Hessari, M., ‘Iron Age tin bronze metallurgy at Marlik, Northern Iran: an analytical investigation’ in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences Volume: 9 Issues: 2, 2017; the decoration of this vessel correspondence with a silver beaker in repoussè and chasing from Fars (see Mahboubian, 2004, p.33), the decoration of a jar from Western Iran (Moorey, Bunker, Porada, Markoe, 1981, pp.84-85), but especially with a North Western Iranian vase published by Muscarella (1988, pp.82ff.) and belonging to the North Iranian Marlik culture.

This splendid vessel, decorated with a design possibly of Elamite origin, probably originates from North-Western Iran, or from South Caspian Area. Hammered sheet vessels were produced in Western Iranian metal workshops since the 3rd millennium B.C. (Moorey, Bunker, Porada, Markoe, 1981, p.82). By far the closest parallels are from Marlik, Kaluraz and Hasanlu, where finds of silver and gold vessels with animal friezes, and also of the same form and style of animal depiction and body decoration are recorded (Negahban, 1964, figs. 103, 108, 109, 111, 113, 136, 140, 144, pls. IV, VIIIA, XII, XVI).