Sasanian, Iran, 600s or Turk Shahi dynasty, Kabul, Afghanistan, 500s / 500–700
Woman and Water Buffalo Rhyton
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Woman and Water Buffalo Rhyton as metalwork (Sasanian, Iran, 600s or Turk Shahi dynasty, Kabul, Afghanistan, 500s · 500–700).
Inlays once filled the buffalo eye sockets, perhaps of colored glass like that still present within some petals of the disc-shaped earrings.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this metalwork as silver, with mercury gilding and glass inlays.
The museum's collection notes: Recalling both Greek and Iranian traditions of head vases and rhyta (drinking horns), this unusual silver vessel combines the heads of a woman and a water buffalo. A filling hole on top and a pouring or drinking spout in front make clear its function. An inscription in Middle Persian on its back records its weight: probably 50 staters and three drachmae (close to its current weight of just over 700 grams, or about 1-1/2 pounds). The woman’s flat brow, straight nose, and widely set, heavy-lidded eyes—along with the sectarian mark in gold on her forehead—relate to art of the Indus River Valley and Hindu Kush regions of today’s Pakistan and Afgh
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The Cleveland Museum of ArtWoman and Water Buffalo RhytonOriginal explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.