Spouted vessel with lynx protome
1st century B.C.E.-1st century C.E.
Parthian period
Silver and gilt
H: 23.5 W: 12.4 D: 30.4 cm
Iran
Smithsonian Museum, Washington DC, USA
Parthian period
Silver and gilt
H: 23.5 W: 12.4 D: 30.4 cm
Iran
Smithsonian Museum, Washington DC, USA
Drinking vessels with a tall horn joined to the protome (forepart) of a lynx, panther, or lion, are sometimes depicted in Hellenistic and Roman art. They are usually identified as objects used in celebrating the cult of Dionysos, the Greek god of wine and ecstatic experience, which spread over a wide area of the eastern Mediterranean and southwest Asia.
