c.1300 Silver and Parcel gilt cup

This type of drinking cup (or 'belt-bowl') It was carried in a bag that hung from the traveller's belt, Ithad its origins in eastern Asia, spread west during the Mongol expansion of the early thirteenth century.
Note the gilded central medallion with a winged sphinx with dragon-headed tail against a foliate ground.
Private collection. Auctioned by Sotheby's, London, in 2007

Exhibited by:

SilkRoadVirtualMuseum

More from SilkRoadVirtualMuseum

Camel transporting Silk , 5th-6th century
h = 200 cm
SilkRoadVirtualMuseum
Dancer
SilkRoadVirtualMuseum
Merchant
h = 165 cm
SilkRoadVirtualMuseum
Merchant and Camel and child
h = 250 cm
SilkRoadVirtualMuseum
Merchant
h = 165 cm
SilkRoadVirtualMuseum