Lobed bowl with lion
Type:
Drinking vessels,
Bowls
Date:
Mid-sixth to mid-seventh century
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Uzbekistan
Medium:
Silver
Dimensions:
Height of 4.8 cm and diameter of 15.3 cm
Description:
Sogdian metalworkers created this shallow silver bowl with repoussé and chasing, hammering a metal sheet from the back with different metalworking tools (repoussé) and adding details to the front (chasing). At the center of the twelve-lobed bowl, which was most likely used as an elite drinking vessel, is the chased form of a lion lifting its paw and looking back towards a plant. Although the vessel was discovered in China's Henan province, it was most likely made around modern-day Uzbekistan and its Sogdian origins are clear from inscriptions scratched into the back in the Sogdian language.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
3
