Dish with ducks' heads

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This round stone tray sits on a high ring base. It has a short rim, with a handle in the form of two duck or goose heads back to back, with their beaks connecting to the edge of the tray. It is made of a black stone, and it shows signs of having been smashed in antiquity. This tray was excavated in the Treasury at Persepolis, the capital of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. It was found along with nearly 600 other stone trays and vessels. Possibly these were part of the Persian king’s table settings. They were probably destroyed by the soldiers of Alexander the Great when they captured Persepolis in 330 B.C. The duck heads on the handle mimic Egyptian stone vessels, which raises the possibility that the tray was made in Egypt, or, like much of the architecture at Persepolis, was inspired by Egyptian examples. Indeed, some stone vessels bearing hieroglyphic inscriptions naming Egyptian pharaohs were also found in the Treasury.

Ancient Near Eastern Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art cares for approximately 7,000 works ranging in date from the eighth millennium B.C. through the centuries just beyond the emergence of Islam in the seventh century A.D. Objects in the collection were created by people in the area that today comprises Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean coast, Yemen, and Central Asia. From the art of some of the world's first cities to that of great empires, the department's holdings illustrate the beauty and craftsmanship as well as the profound interconnections, cultural and religious diversity, and lasting legacies that characterize the ancient art of this vast region.

Metropolitan Museum of Art