Getty Museum

Ladle

Date

about 500 B.C.

Medium

Silver

Culture

Lydian-Achaemenid

Department

Vessels

Institution

Getty Museum

Achaemenid Persian silver drinking sets and other vessels from tombs in Lydia and elsewhere in Asia Minor survive in some quantity and demonstrate the importance of such objects as indicators of status in the Achaemenid Empire. Dependence on the fashions of the royal court in Persia are evident, but some of the finds from Lydia are of distinctively local types. Bowls and beakers of Achaemenid shape are common, as are *kyathoi* (ladles) and strainers. Ladles decorated with calves’ or lions’ heads have been found with silver pitchers, cups, and *phialai* (shallow bowls) in tombs at Sardis and elsewhere in Lydia. This ladle terminates in a calf’s head of typically Achaemenid style and represents the most common variety, although some others are more ornate.

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