Handle, possibly for a spoon

Unknown

ca. 5th century BCE · Silver · Ancient Near Eastern Art

This elaborate silver handle is decorated with the head of a calf at one end and the head of a lion at the other; a third creature, difficult to identify, emerges from the lion’s mouth. The creature’s long snout is split horizontally, and presumably the bowl of a spoon or another implement was originally inserted there, A silver spoon with a loop handle decorated with the head of a duck was excavated at a palace at Pasargadae, the first capital of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. That spoon was likely used at the royal table, and probably this spoon was as well. There was a long history in Iran of decorating vessels with animal features, and the Achaemenids adopted and expanded this practice.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 5th century BCE

Medium

Silver

Culture

Achaemenid

Department

Ancient Near Eastern Art

Credit line

Gift of Norbert Schimmel Trust, 1989