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The horse was a favorite artistic subject in ancient Iran, where horse breeding flourished. This muscular Sasanian stallion was descended from the royal and sacred Nisean breed of the Achaemenian Persians. Although Sasanian horse trappings were elaborate, they did not include stirrups for mounting. In this rendition, the steed lies still, as camels in the Near East do today, waiting for its rider to mount. The medallions on each shoulder contain busts, perhaps of rulers of different parts of the Sasanian Empire, holding their rings of authority.

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Page
1
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0
Type
photo
Media ID
5345774ce77f9254
Size
unknown

Document data

ID
141156
Core
obj
Type
object
DTO data
{
    "id": "141156",
    "contentType": "object",
    "title": "Horse-Shaped Drinking Vessel",
    "description": "The horse was a favorite artistic subject in ancient Iran, where horse breeding flourished. This muscular Sasanian stallion was descended from the royal and sacred Nisean breed of the Achaemenian Persians. Although Sasanian horse trappings were elaborate, they did not include stirrups for mounting. In this rendition, the steed lies still, as camels in the Near East do today, waiting for its rider to mount. The medallions on each shoulder contain busts, perhaps of rulers of different parts of the Sasanian Empire, holding their rings of authority.",
    "date": "200–325 CE",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1964.41",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q60762436"
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Metalwork"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1964.41/1964.41_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1964.41/1964.41_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1964.41/1964.41_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 12 x 10.8 x 32.7 cm (4 3/4 x 4 1/4 x 12 7/8 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "Iran, Sasanian Empire (224–651 CE)"
    ],
    "accession": "1964.41"
}

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Document identity
{
    "localId": "141156",
    "label": "Horse-Shaped Drinking Vessel",
    "core": "obj",
    "dtoType": "object"
}
Document source metadata
{
    "id": "141156",
    "contentType": "object",
    "title": "Horse-Shaped Drinking Vessel",
    "description": "The horse was a favorite artistic subject in ancient Iran, where horse breeding flourished. This muscular Sasanian stallion was descended from the royal and sacred Nisean breed of the Achaemenian Persians. Although Sasanian horse trappings were elaborate, they did not include stirrups for mounting. In this rendition, the steed lies still, as camels in the Near East do today, waiting for its rider to mount. The medallions on each shoulder contain busts, perhaps of rulers of different parts of the Sasanian Empire, holding their rings of authority.",
    "date": "200–325 CE",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1964.41",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q60762436"
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Metalwork"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1964.41/1964.41_web.jpg",
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    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1964.41/1964.41_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 12 x 10.8 x 32.7 cm (4 3/4 x 4 1/4 x 12 7/8 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "Iran, Sasanian Empire (224–651 CE)"
    ],
    "accession": "1964.41"
}
Document source extras
{
    "tec": "silver, partially gilt",
    "tombstone": "Horse-Shaped Drinking Vessel, 200–325 CE. Iran, Sasanian Empire (224–651 CE). Silver, partially gilt; overall: 12 x 10.8 x 32.7 cm (4 3/4 x 4 1/4 x 12 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1964.41",
    "collection": "Near Eastern Art",
    "citations": [
        {
            "citation": "de la Ferté, Etienne Coche. “Palma et Laurus. Un Monogramme et Un Objet d’art Paléochrétiens En Relation Avec Les Courses de l’hippodrome.” <em>Jahrbuch Der Berliner Museen</em>, vol. 3, 1961, pp. 134–47.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced fig. 11",
            "url": "https://doi.org/10.2307/4125632"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Musée du Petit Palais (Paris, France), and Roman Ghirshman. Sept Mille Ans D'art En Iran: [Exposition] Petit Palais, Octobre 1961 - Janvier 1962. [Paris]: Petit Palais, 1961.",
            "page_number": "no. 859, Pl. LXXXVI"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Ghirshman, Roman.<em> Persian art: Parthian and Sassanian dynasties, 249 B.C.- A.D. 651</em>. New York: Golden Press, 1962.",
            "page_number": "p. 220. Color plate no. 262"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Ghirshman, Roman. “Notes Iraniennes XI. Le Rhyton En Iran.” <em>Artibus Asiae</em>, vol. 25, no. 1, 1962, pp. 57–80.",
            "page_number": "Figs. 29-30.",
            "url": "https://doi.org/10.2307/3249165"
        },
        {
            "citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. “Year in Review for 1964.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>, vol. 51, no. 10, 1964, pp. 236–66.",
            "page_number": "Listed and reproduced no. 152.",
            "url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25152021."
        },
        {
            "citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 14",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n38"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Shepherd, Dorothy G., and Joseph Ternbach. “Two Silver Rhyta.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 53, no. 8 (October 1966): 289–317.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 297-298, figs. 6, 8, Back Cover",
            "url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25152114"
        },
        {
            "citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 14",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n36"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Ghirshman, Roman. “La selle en Iran,” <em>Iranica Antiqua IX</em>, Leiden: E.J. Brill. 1972, pp. 94-107.",
            "page_number": "Discussed p. 106. Pl. LI"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Gibbons, D.F., K.C. Ruhl and L.S. Staikoff, \"Analysis of Sasanian Silver Objects: A Comparison of Techniques\" <em>Archaeological Chemistry</em>. June 1, 1974 , 11-21.",
            "url": "https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ba-1974-0138.ch002"
        },
        {
            "citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 7",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n27"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Harper, Prudence Oliver. <em>The Royal Hunter: Art of the Sasanian Empire</em>. New York: Asia Society, 1978.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 28; mentioned: pl.1, pp. 29,30"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Merhav, Rivka.<em> A Glimpse into the Past: The Joseph Ternbach Collection.</em> Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 1981.",
            "page_number": "p. 12-13, illust."
        },
        {
            "citation": "Herrmann, Georgina, et al. \"Parthian and Sasanian Saddlery: New Light from the Roman West.\" <em>Archaeologia Iranica et Orientalis: Miscellanea in Honorem Louis Vanden Berghe.</em> Belgium, Macmillan, 1989. p 757-809.",
            "page_number": "Discussed p. 767 Pl. VI, VII."
        },
        {
            "citation": "Vanden Berghe, Louis. <em>Hofkunst van de Sassanieden: het Perzische rijk tussen Rome en China (224-642) ; 12 februari tot 25 april 1993</em>. Brussels: Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst en Geschiedenis, 1993.",
            "page_number": "p. 107,  Pl. 94"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Kosmin, Paul. \"Banqueting on the Move.\" In <em>Animal-Shaped Vessels from the Ancient World: Feasting with Gods, Heroes, and Kings</em>.Susanne Ebbinghaus,ed., 310-341. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Art Museums, 2018.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 324, fig. 7.18"
        }
    ],
    "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1964.41",
    "creditline": "John L. Severance Fund",
    "updatedAt": "2026-06-17 11:19:44.140000",
    "imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1964.41/1964.41_print.jpg",
    "sourceId": 141156,
    "dept": "Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art",
    "coll": "Near Eastern Art",
    "med": "silver, partially gilt",
    "thumbnail_url": null,
    "image_url": null
}
Page context
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