An Achaemenid Gold Repoussé Plaque, Achaemenid Period, ca. 500 - 330 BCE Medium - Faience Of exceptional quality

Of exceptional quality

prior to the departure of the Shah in 1979

in mushroom shapes with large domed heads

extends from the left

from Fine Arts of Ancient Lands

An Achaemenid Gold Repoussé Plaque, Achaemenid Period, ca. 500 - 330 BCE Medium - Faience Of exceptional qualityThis sheet gold plaque attests to the exceptional skill of Achaemenid goldsmiths and the sophisticated taste and high social status of its original owners. Greek writers often speak of the tremendous wealth of the Persians, and Herodotus writes that King Xerxes' troops "were adorned with the greatest magnificence they glittered all over with gold, vast quantities of which they wore about their person" (vii. 83). Of high karat gold, this example is