Ancient Near Eastern Art

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Freer Gallery of Art

The Freer west corridor is temporarily closed for the installation of Feast Your Eyes: A Taste for Luxury in Ancient Iran.

An extraordinary selection of silver-gilt ceremonial vessels, created in Iran during the Sasanian Empire (ca. 224–651), are on view in the Freer’s west corridor. The vessels’ elegant shapes and rich imagery epitomize the cosmopolitan style of this period. Also on display is the so-called Gold Treasure, a group of Byzantine works of art attributable to sixth- and seventh-century Constantinople but discovered in Egypt.

Plate, 5th-7th c. CE, Sasanian period. Silver and gilt, Iran. F1964.10. Learn more »