A Silver Footed Cup, Central Asia, probably Sogdiana , circa 4th/5th Century A.D.

with stemmed hexagonal foot and straight flaring sides, shallow fluting underneath, the exterior cast and overlaid in high relief with hunting scenes showing strong Sasanian influence, the details finely chased, the scenes comprising a huntsman on horseback preparing to unleash his arrow at a rampant tiger, and two huntsmen on horseback, one with bow, the other with spear(?), attacking crossed rampant lions, each hunter bearded and wearing richly ornamented leggings, tunic, and headdress, the steeds with high bound forelocks, bound tails, and saddle-blankets, one horse with long flowing mane, two of the horses with cropped manes, trees lightly chased in the background, beaded borders above and below.

acquired in the Far East in the early 1990s
estate of Nikola Atanasov Nikolov, New York

The ancient region of Sogdiana, north of the Sasanian Empire and Bactria, with Samarkand as its chief city, was a land of small city-states. The Silk Road traversed it, and Sogdiana had a very important mercantile class. Susan Lerner notes that "so dominant were merchants of Sogdian origin that the Sogdian language became the lingua franca of the Silk Road" (Judith K. Lerner in Monks and Merchants: Silk Road Treasures from Northwest China, New York, 2001, p. 222).

A 5th century silver bowl in the British Museum, showing strong Sasanian influence but probably from Kushan, includes a similar scene of horsemen hunting crossed lions; cf. O.M. Dalton, Treasures of the Oxus, London,1964, pls. 29-31.