Silver bowl
The foliate decoration on the exterior of this shallow bowl is similar to that on a number of vessels belonging to silver hoards found in Gaul and Germany, buried as a result of the threat of barbarian raids from across the Rhine in the mid-third century A.D. This bowl, however, has no recorded provenance and for a long time was considered to be of Parthian (Iranian) origin. It thus demonstrates the universal nature of luxury art, which in later Roman times spread eastward through Iran to Central Asia and China.
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