‪An Achaemenid Silver Rhyton in the Form of a Buck Protome

‪An Achaemenid Silver Rhyton in the Form of a Buck Protome Silver and silver gilt, Late 5th-early 4th century B.C.E., allegedly from the Black Sea Region In view of the vessel's length, it was back raised from about the middle. The vessel was then filled with either bitumen/pitch or with a mixture of powdered sulphur rock and fine sand, heated to render fluid. Once hardened the fluting was then hammered in or impressed from the outside. The mouth of the vessel is then hammered and annealed to shape and the lotus frieze is outlined by "tracing", the surface within the contours lightly grooved and thin gold sheet applied and burnished into place. The protome formed as the vessel and in keeping with its sophistication worked extensively and elaborately by the repoussé method from both sides. The ears and antlers shaped separately by cutting and hammering, the former inserted by means of a dowel, the latter, it would appear, by a sort of plate held in place by three dowels. The various thin gold sheet elements executed as the lotus frieze. The inlays for the rosettes, the legs and hooves would appear to be of electrum. A round hole in the centre of the muzzle to enable passage of the liquid through a spout.‬