Getty Museum

Group of Five Vessels

Date

1st century B.C.

Medium

Gilt silver, garnet, inlaid glass, semi-precious stones

Department

Vessels

Institution

Getty Museum

These five vessels - a large rhyton and four bowls – have been associated together, although whether this grouping is ancient or the result of modern collecting remains uncertain. Two do appear to have been side-by-side in antiquity. The green oxidation pattern on the spout of the rhyton ([86.AM.754.1](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/12861/unknown-maker-lion-rhyton-near-eastern-parthian-1st-century-bc/)) conforms to the shape of the shallow bowl decorated with rosettes ([86.AM.754.5](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/12865/unknown-maker-shallow-bowl-with-three-friezes-of-rosettes-near-eastern-parthian-1st-century-bc/?dz=#f7765e37208522dd9242617335026232b2decd35)), suggesting that it was buried with the bowl lying upside down on top of it. All of the vessels are designed for drinking, and would have used on special occasions with similarly elaborate serving vessels. Some of the shapes, such as the rhyton and the hemispherical cups, had been popular forms in Achaemenid Persian art, but many of the decorative motifs, such as the garlands and florals, derive from Hellenistic art. Through their lavish materials and eclectic craftsmanship, they convey the wealth of elite society in the Parthian Empire during the first century B.C.

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