Gold Cup

With its restrained, subtle elegance, this small gold cup returns the opulence of the Ilkhanid court, reflecting the period of prosperity and artistic experimentation that followed the Mongol invasion of Iran and Central Asia in the 7th century AH/13th century CE. Considering the paucity of surviving vessels in gold for this period, this rare footless cup holds particularly high historical significance. The gold sheet has been hammered into an eight-faceted cup which is solid yet light in shape; each facet bears an engraved decoration of a Chinese-inspired ramping mythical bird among branches, which has been filled with a black compound (niello technique) to increase the contrast with the gold background. The profile of its leaf-shaped thumb rest and thin, round handler recall examples in ceramic and moulded glass from the Ghaznavid and Great Seljuqs periods and, yet, reconnect to much earlier typologies developed among the urban elites of Sasanian Iran and Central Asia (among the afluent population of Sogdiana, especially) and exported as far as to Tang China, where they grew in popularity and were imitated.