Ewer with dancing female figures and Dionysiac thiasos. Iran (Sassanian), 6th-7th century. Silver with mercury gilding

The vessel is complete, with the exception of a small area around the feet of the female figure holding a bucket and mirror. Seven separate pieces of silver were used in the construction of the ewer (body and neck, pedestal foot, handle, knob on the top of the handle, lid, wire for suspending the lid from the handle, loop connecting the wire with the lid). The body of the ewer is raised and decorated with repousse and chased designs. On the foot is a dotted Pahlevi inscription giving a personal name (Brunner, 1974).

Four draped females appear under arches formed by rosettes, which rest on columns decorated with vine scrolls. Each female holds a pair of objects or attributes. Because of their dancing poses and the types of objects they hold in their hands, the females have been compared to Western maenads or Bacchantes. The objects, consistently repeated on all Sassanian vessels with this type of scene, include birds, alone or pecking at a bunch of grapes, a panther and ewer, a dog, a small nude child, plants, fruit, vessels, and a jeweled necklace. The inclusion of a mirror on this ewer is unique.

Ettinghausen (1972, pp. 3-10) has suggested that this Sassanian motif is derived from Dionysiac imagery and is connected with a fertility cult, and Shepherd (1964) has related the motif to the Iranian goddess of fertility, Anahita.

Although the inclusion of Dionysiac imagery in the scenes on this vessel, notably the pouring of wine from a jug to a panther, is undeniable, the attributes held by the dancing women seem to have been developed from another Late Antique source (Harper, 1971). Hanfmann (1951, I, p. 211) remarked on the similarity between the females on Sassanian vessels and the Horae. Such a relationship explains the presence of Dionysiac references in the Sassanian scenes, as well as the inclusion of other objects unrelated to the cult of Dionysos. Since the same attributes are not always paired on the Sassanian vessels, it is likely, as Carter suggested (1974, p. 200), that the females commemorate seasonal festivals rather than specific seasons or months.

The shape of the ewer is derived from Western types of the late fourth or early fifth century. Distinctive Sassanian features are the upper arm resting on the shoulder of the vessel and the strongly accentuated moldings below the neck and on the foot and the paired-line patterns on the drapery of the female figures.

The nonrealistic indentations along the borders of the upper garments, at the edge of the rounded body forms, and the double beading of the necklace and diadem are stylistic features suggesting a date in the sixth or seventh century.

The vessel allegedly comes from Iran. Bibliography: Harper, 1971; Brunner, 1974, p. 118; Carter, 1974.