(b) - SASANIAN SILVER

Summary

The place of Sasanian silver in the history of pre-Islamic Near-Eastern art has always been a prominent one. The large collection of vessels housed in the Hermitage Museum and the smaller ones in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, the British Museum in London, and the Staatliche Museen in Berlin were catalogued in the early 1900s and initiated considerable discussion and controversy. The objects were chiefly accidental finds made in Armenia, the Urals, the Ukraine, Asia Minor and Iran, or purchases on the market in India and Afghanistan. Problems, therefore, existed not only concerning their date but also their place of manufacture. In recent years a large number of related silver vessels have come from clandestine excavations in Iran. Because of the way in which they came to light, they have added little certain information beyond the fact of their Iranian provenance, and they have introduced the new question of authenticity.

As there is no archaeological evidence upon which to base an attribution to the Sasanian period, some of the vessels have been ascribed at one time or another to different periods and regions. Sasanian rock reliefs, stuccos, gems and coins offer parallels for many of the features found on the silver, but they differ significantly in form and design. They do not, therefore, always supply evidence that can establish with certainty the period or the culture to which the vessels should be assigned.