IRAN, CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.

Rhyta were designed to aerate wine - with a hole at the front from which the liquid flowed. In this example the wine would pour in a stream from the animal's open mouth directly into the drinker's mouth while the vessel was passed from person to person at a banquet. They were high status luxury wares, highly valued in Near Eastern society, and were fashioned from a number of materials, including gold, silver, bronze, stone, terracotta and glass. The animals on these vessels included the ram, horse, bull, ibex, supernatural creatures, and female divinities. The above rhyton has the head of a caracal, a wild cat also known as a desert lynx, indigenous to Central Asia, the Near East and the entire continent of Africa. It is depicted open-mouthed with teeth bared, its ears held back in a terrifying pose, with finely detailed fur around its jaw and face. The Parthians were clearly influenced by the art and culture of the Mediterranean world and here one can see the influence of the Greek god Dionysos - god of wine and merrymaking, celebration and of drinking parties. The panther was a Dionysiac animal therefore highly appropriate as a rhyta terminal. For a Parthian silver rhyton with wild cat head in the Metropolitan Museum see acc. no. 1979.447a, b.