Lot 117
117
AN ACHAEMENID SILVER PHIALE, the high central omphalos worked separately and engraved with a rosette within five-pointed curved star, radiating from the omphalos are twelve leaf-shaped tongues alternating with twelve deep egg-shaped lobes, 5th Century B.C.

Details
AN ACHAEMENID SILVER PHIALE, the high central omphalos worked separately and engraved with a rosette within five-pointed curved star, radiating from the omphalos are twelve leaf-shaped tongues alternating with twelve deep egg-shaped lobes, 5th Century B.C.
5 7/8in. (15cm.) diam. max., 1 3/8in. (3.5cm.) high

Lot Essay

This phiale is most unusual in having a separately worked omphalos and no corresponding depression on the underside, simply a small engraved dot. For a phiale with omphalos covered with additional and separately worked layer, cf. D. V. Bothmer, A Greek and Roman Treasury, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bulletin, 1984, p. 21, no. 12. For the general shape and type cf. A. C. Gunter and P. Jett, Ancient Iranian Metalwork in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992, pp. 66-73, nos. 2 and 3

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