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The rich and wide-ranging collection of Sassanian items is the pride
of the Museum, which has a vast array of important silverware,
glyptics and coins. The majority of Sassanian silverware, jugs and
cups for wine, vases and salvers for sweetmeats and fruit, were -
surprisingly enough - found by chance in the Urals region and near
the River Kama. This is explained by the fact that they were taken
there by traders to barter for furs, and were later often used by the
local population for religious purposes, or were treasured and
passed down through many generations of a family.
Scholarly research based on the examination of written sources,
silver dishes with their inscriptions, rock-cut reliefs, and gems and
coins, has revealed that Sassanian objects were the reflection of an
official art, a state ideology, and in particular, a state religion,
namely Zoroastrianism, first found in Sassanian Iran. There is an
interesting group of articles with Zoroastrian motif and symbols,
such as a fine silver ewer with its body decorated with the
representation of the Iranian mythological creature known as a
Senmurvs.
Of the Sassanian silverware, the most notable items are a dish
depicting King Shapur II hunting lions (4th century) and the famous
dish with a well-known episode from Firdousi's poem Shahnameh
describing how Azadeh, the beloved of Prince Bahram-Gur,
demanded upon seeing a herd of gazelles that with the help of
arrows the prince turn a buck into a doe and a doe into a buck. The
faces in the hunting scenes were depicted so accurately that it has
proved possible to establish their names through comparison with
portraits on coins of the Sassanian rulers. In Iran, silver dishes - or
to be more exact, shallow bowls for wine - cannot be regarded as
simple utensils designed for banquets. Their importance lay in the
intricate scenes with which they were decorated.
The collection of Sassanian engraved stones consists of over 1,000
items, mostly of semi-precious stones – sard, chalcedony, jasper,
amethyst and garnet, inserted in rings they were used as seals. The
seals bear engraved portraits, inscriptions, various images and
sometimes heraldic signs.

If you enjoyed this collection, you might want to also visit the other collections at the State Hermitage Museum.
Oriental Coins
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King Shapur II Hunting Lions
4th century
Full description
Prince Varahran out Hunting
Late 4th–early 5th century
Full description
Silver Ewer
6th-early 7th century
Full description
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