A SOUTH ARABIAN SILVER LIDDED VESSEL

CIRCA 3RD CENTURY A.D.

Details

A SOUTH ARABIAN SILVER LIDDED VESSEL
CIRCA 3RD CENTURY A.D.
Hammered and chased with elaborate relief decoration, the globular body adorned with a hatched net-pattern, the lozenges arranged in registers alternating with birds and crouching rabbits in left and right profile, the details of the animals' eyes, the birds' wings and the rabbits' ears well defined, the body framed above and below by drop-shaped elements, a beaded border above, an incised inscription on the shoulders in Old South Arabian, reading: Hs'lt/w-N'd-ly/dtw/Qyhn/symtw/mwst/byt-hmy/Yrs, "[The ladies] Haslar and Na'ad-alay, of the clan Qayhan, have dedicated [this vessel] within their two's house Yaras," the vessel base in the form of a three-petalled rosette; the circular lid bordered by radiating drop-shaped elements and a thin raised braided ridge, with relief decoration including scrolling grape vines and a circular garland from which emerges a head in high relief serving as the knob-handle, the head with an elaborate coiffure of twisted corkscrew locks, the details punched and chased
3 5/8 in. (9.2 cm.) high (2)

Provenance

American Private Collection, 1994.

Lot Essay

The lettering on this vessel is characteristic of examples from Wadi Dura in East Central Yemen, ancient Shabwa, the capital of the Kingdom of Hadramaut. The city was looted and sacked by the kingdom of Himyar in 280 A.D., suggesting a terminus ante quem.

While dedicatory inscriptions are well known on silver vessels in this period, the inscription on the present example is unusual in that it is dedicated by two women. The form and style of the decoration are significantly more elaborate than most of the known examples of South Arabian silver vessels (see pl. 10, fig. 23 in J.-F. Breton, Trésors du Wâdi-Dura).

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