CIRCA 6TH-7TH CENTURY A.D.

The interior tondo of this deep boat-shaped vessel is decorated with a gilt figure of a crane with a scarf around its neck. For a fragmentary silver oval bowl decorated with a crane in the Louvre (inv. Sb 6728), cf. P. Oliver Harper, The Royal Hunter, Art of the Sasanian Empire, New York, 1978, p. 46, no. 10, where it is suggested that the presence of a water bird "may represent rain, which was associated in Iranian literature with fertility and the growth of plants".
Please note that Lots of Iranian origin are subject to U.S. trade restrictions which currently prohibit their import into the United States. Similar restrictions may apply in other countries.