Cup with a frieze of gazelles, early 1st millennium B.C.Northwestern Iran, Capsian regionGold; H. 2 9/16 in. (6.5 cm)Rogers Fund, 1962 (62.84)
A number of cups similar to this one have been found in the excavation of the rich burials at Marlik, a site southwest of the Caspian Sea in northern Iran.
On the body of the cup, four gazelles, framed horizontally by guilloche bands, walk in procession to the left. Their bodies are rendered in repoussé and are detailed with finely chased lines to indicate hair and musculature. The projecting heads were made separately, as were the ears and horns, and were fastened invisibly in place by a colloid hard-soldering, a process much practiced in Iran involving glue and copper salt. The hooves and eyes are indented, probably to receive inlays.
