Subject: āzād nobleman as cavalry

Culture: Sassanid Persian

Setting: early Sassanid empire, Persia 3-5thc

Metropolitan Museum of Art *

"Head of a king, probably Shapur II Gilded silver Iran Sasanian period, 4th century A.D. ...

This royal head, hammered from a single sheet of silver, has parallels in imperial portraits made in the Roman west.

The Sasanian sculpture may have been made for funerary purposes or for display on ceremonial occasions.

Although the striated globe rising from the crown has no parallel in crowns depicted on Sasanian coins,

it does appear in the eastern Iranian world on crowns worn by Kushano-Sasanian rulers.

No crescent is seen on the official crowns of Shapur II; there is one, however, on a rock relief depicting Shapur III (r. 383-388) at Taq-i Bostan."

* Metropolitan Museum of Art

"Plate with a hunting scene from the tale of Bahram Gur and Azadeh Gilded silver Iran Sasanian period, 5th century A.D."

Metropolitan Museum of Art *

"Plate: the king Yazdgard I, slaying a stag Gilded silver Iran Sasanian period, early 5th century A.D."