Object Description
A bronze fluted phiale, or wine bowl. Hammered from a single sheet of metal, the phiale has 17 petals in fine regular repoussé work chased into the bronze surface. The way in which the metal is pushed up from the bottom of the bowl to form a central internal knob makes this a type of phiale known as a mesomphalic phiale, a characteristic that allowed the phiale to be held more easily in one hand.
Ancient Persia; Achaemenid Empire: Circa 6th-4th century BC.