BottleSasanian period (225-650 A.D.)

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Title: Bottle
Place Made: Iran
Date Made: Sasanian period (225-650 A.D.)
Medium: High-tin bronze
Dimensions: Height: 5 1/2 in. (14 cm); Diameter: 3 1/2 in. (9.3 cm)
Credit Line: The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection of Ancient Near Eastern and Central Asian Art, gift of The Ahmanson Foundation
Accession Number: M.76.97.378
Classification: Metal
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Ancient
Curatorial Notes: This bronze vessel, with a slightly rounded body and tall waisted neck, possibly functioned as a small bottle. Its high tin content may have initially given it a silvery color that blackened over time. Perhaps it was made as a less costly substitute for a silver vessel. Gold and especially silver plate seems to have been the tableware of choice for elite feasting in the Sasanian period (224−651), based on surviving objects as well as textual accounts mainly from the early Islamic period. Larger, closely related versions continued into the Islamic era (see M.2002.1.568).

2024
Selected Bibliography: Ancient Bronzes, Ceramics, and Seals: The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection of Ancient Near Eastern, Central Asiatic, and European Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1981.
Komaroff, Linda, editor. Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; New York: DelMonico Books, 2023.

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