Sassanian Plate with Winged Horses

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Illustration

Ibolya Horváth
by Metropolitan Museum of Art
published on 03 February 2020
Sassanian Plate with Winged Horses Download Full Size Image

This gilded silver Sasanian plate features an unusual scene that borrows from Graeco-Roman prototypes and possibly Iranian ones as well. Two youths stand on platforms facing one another, each holding a staff and the reins of a winged horse, reminiscent of representations of the hero Bellerophon and Pegasus as well as of the Dioskouroi (the divine twins Castor and Pollux). Both horses bend their necks down to drink from a large vessel supported by a female figure, who appears in bust form emerging from a frieze of half-palmettes. She is most likely either a personification of water or the Iranian river goddess Anahita.

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Cite This Work

APA Style

Art, M. M. o. (2020, February 03). Sassanian Plate with Winged Horses. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/image/11837/sassanian-plate-with-winged-horses/

Chicago Style

Art, Metropolitan Museum of. "Sassanian Plate with Winged Horses." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified February 03, 2020. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/11837/sassanian-plate-with-winged-horses/.

MLA Style

Art, Metropolitan Museum of. "Sassanian Plate with Winged Horses." World History Encyclopedia. World History Encyclopedia, 03 Feb 2020. Web. 15 Sep 2024.

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