**First Time At Auction**

Ancient Near East / Central Asia, Sasanian (Sassanian / Sassanid) Empire, ca. 2nd to 7th century CE. A pretty bronze offering dish or serving bowl, gilded on interior and exterior, with shallow, gently sloping walls and three concentric circles incised in tondo. The Sasanian elite valued beautiful metal objects, especially those that either were or looked like silver and gold. Many of these objects drew inspiration from Greco-Roman artwork, but others, like this bowl, had more abstract motifs. Sasanian artistic culture, in turn, spread along the Silk Road, influencing metalwork in western Iran and the Caspian Sea, and bowls like this one have been found as far afield as the eastern coast of China. Size: 4.8" W x 4.65" H (12.2 cm x 11.8 cm)

Provenance: ex private Ventura County, California, USA collection

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#129154

Surface wear and encrustation, including some pitting, commensurate with age. A modern drill hole through one side of the rim.