LOT 2091

Post Sasanian Silver Footed Dish with 'Tamga'

CIRCA 8TH-10TH CENTURY A.D. OR LATER

8 5/8 in. (466 grams, 22 cm).

Discoid footed dish with raised rim, central tondo with parcel-gilt ring and 'tamga' motif.

Private collection, UK.

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 search certificate number no.13029-247330.

Cf. for a general discussion and some examples of Sasanian dishes Aimone, M., The Wyvern collection, Byzantine and Sasanian Silver, Enamels and Works of Art, London, 2020, esp. cat.no.49, pp.192-193; for the Neshan cf. Brunner, C. J., Sasanian Stamp Seals in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1978; Farrokh, D., Sassanian Elite Cavalry, AD 224-642, Oxford,2005, pp.22-23.

During the Sasanian Empire, the North Iranian ‘tamgas’ became ‘Neshan’ or seals and heraldic symbols of nobility and military personnel, worn on their dress, horses, standards and personal belongings like this vessel. This characteristic also continued during the early Muslim domination. Among the Neshan published by Christensen, one particular ‘tamga’, related to an unknown Sasanian clan, recalls exactly half of the one impressed on the present example (Farrokh, 2005, p.23 no.5).