Phiale mesonphalos; Achaemenid culture; Iran, 5th century BC.

Phiale mesonphalos; Achaemenid culture; Iran, 5th century BC.
Silvered and gilded bronze.
It shows wear and breakage.
Measurements: 4 x 15 x 15 cm.
Phiale or Fiale made in gilded bronze that presents a circular structure with the base and the galloned body as ornamentation. This type of recipient receives the name of fiale or patera, a round, wide and shallow dish or bowl that lacks handles and foot, being used mainly for ritual purposes. According to sources, this vessel was used especially for libations, non-cruel sacrifices that consisted of pouring, in honor of the divinity, liquids such as perfumes, wine or honey. This form would have originated in the Assyrian Empire, since its representation already appears in the mural reliefs of the royal palaces of Nimrud, however, its history has crossed empires and millennia to become the favorite ritual vessel in Greece and Rome. This specimen evokes the silhouette of the lotus flower, with the central omphalos or umbo highlighted in a semiglobular shape. It is a bowl with a wide open rim, with the body worked in volume, highlighting the large petals pointing towards the center between which the ribs are interspersed. The delicacy of the metal technique, the careful style and the richness of the materials used indicate that this fiale was a prestigious object. A fiale made with a similar decoration and technique is preserved in the National Archaeological Museum, Madrid (1999/99/163).
The Achaemenid dynasty ruled the Persian Empire between the middle of the 6th century B.C. and the second half of the 4th century B.C. It was founded by Cyrus the Great, after defeating the last Median king in 550 B.C. and extending his dominion over central Iran and a large part of Mesopotamia, and its end came with the conquest of Alexander the Great in 331 B.C., after a progressive weakening as a result of the medical wars against the Greeks. The Persian art of the Achaemenid period is eclectic and sumptuous, the result of a period of splendor such as the Mediterranean had not seen until then. Materials and artists were brought to the court from all the conquered lands, producing a rich mixture of languages and techniques that, in itself, reflected the empire and the thought of the Achaemenids.