Parthian Terracotta Rhyton in Form of a Ram

Culture: Parthian

Period: 3rd-1st century B.C.

Material: Terracotta

Dimensions: 28.3 cm long; 13.5 cm high

Price: 2 800 Euro

Ref: 6628

Provenance: Austrian private collection Prof. Josef Mairitsch (1938-1994) with the inventory number 32. Acquired between 1960 and the early 1980s. Thence in the family estate. With a copy of the collection note.

Condition: Right horn reattached. Right side of the body with traces of weathering and superficial cracks on the surface, but intact.

Description: Large Parthian terracotta rhyton of the “Grey Ware” in a rare form of a lying ram. The animal’s body in form of a barrel, on the back a cylindrical pouring hole with a pulled out rim. The broad, upwardly twisted tail sticks out at the back. The ram has his thin legs bent, the forelegs backwards, the hindlegs forwards. The head with a conically tapering snout is at the same time the spout. The priest closed the spout with his finger during the ceremony and opened it to sacrifice the precious liquid drop by drop. The horns are turned inwards. The eyes are roundly deepened and filled with white chalk. A rare form.