The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of February 23, 2026

Scalloped, shallow silver bowl with a narrow, rectangular base. Vines wind around the exterior, with the scallop sections depicting stylized people playing instruments among the vines. From our viewpoint, they flank a central section with a short-legged animal with short, pointed ears leaping forward and turning back to stick their muzzle in a fruit. The exterior and alternating sections of the interior glimmer gold.

Bowl

300–500 CE

Iran, Sasanian Empire

(224–651 CE)
silver
Overall: 6.4 x 14 cm (2 1/2 x 5 1/2 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1963.478
Location: 102A Ancient Near East

Description

The decoration on this bowl—a vine with a little nude, accompanied by musicians drinking wine from a rhyton—is related to the Hellenistic cult of Dionysos, or Bacchus, which was brought to Iran by the Greeks and became absorbed into the cult of Anahita.
  • ?–1963
    (Farhadi & Anavian, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1963–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Lee, Sherman E. “Year in Review for 1963.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 50, no. 10 (December 1963): 263–294. Mentioned: p. 295, no. 150 www.jstor.org
    Shepherd, Dorothy G. “Sasanian Art in Cleveland.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 51, no. 4 (April 1964): 66–92. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 86-88, figs. 25-27. www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 15 archive.org
    Shepherd, Dorothy G., and Joseph Ternbach. “Two Silver Rhyta.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 53, no. 8 (October 1966): 289–317. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 300-303, figs. 12, 15 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 15 archive.org
    Overlaet, Bruno, ed. Hofkunst van de Sassanieden, Het Perzische Rijk Tussen Rome En China (224-642). Brussels, KMKG, 1993. Discussed p. 105, Plate 93.
    Duchesne-Guillemin, Marcelle. "Les Instruments De Musique Dans L'art Sassanide." Iranica Antiqua / Suppléments, Belgium: 1993. Reproduced p. 88, fig. 29
    Carter, Martha L. “Three Silver Vessels from Tibet’s Earliest Historical Era: A Preliminary Study.” Cleveland Studies in the History of Art 3 (1998): 22–47. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 28, fig. 7 www.jstor.org
    Kosmin, Paul. "Banqueting on the Move." In Animal-Shaped Vessels from the Ancient World: Feasting with Gods, Heroes, and Kings.Susanne Ebbinghaus,ed., 310-341. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Art Museums, 2018. Mentioned: p. 330 and 363; Reproduced: pp. 330, 331, fig. 7.23; p. 363, cat. 56
    Chen, Yi. "Drinking Like a Chinese, or Not? New Drinking Vessels and Practices in China's Middle Period." In A Movable Feast: The Culture of Food and Drink in China, edited by Nicole T. C. Chiang, 59-86. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Palace Museum, 2025. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 68-69, fig. 3.10
  • Animal-Shaped Vessels from the Ancient World: Feasting with Gods, Heroes, and Kings. Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA (organizer) (September 7, 2018-January 6, 2019).
    All That Glitters: Great Silver Vessels in Cleveland's Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 23, 1994-January 8, 1995).
    Year in Review (1963). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 27, 1963-January 5, 1964).
  • {{cite web|title=Bowl|url=false|author=|year=300–500 CE|access-date=23 February 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1963.478