The Plate With King Hunting Kings

The Plate with King Hunting Rams is a brilliant piece of metallurgy from the Sassanid era of Persia, around 5-6th century CE. It was made from silver, mercury gilding and niello inlay in the Qazvin region in what is now Iran. The plate depicts an unknown Sassanid King (either Peroz or Kavad I) hunting down a group of rams. It shows the prowess and desired image of the king as well as the cultural divide and influence of the society at the time. Through its use of curvature, color, and shape, the plate is not only able to illustrate motion and texture but presence and propaganda, a portal into the world of Medieval Persia.
When looking at the piece, we are immediately grabbed by the light coming off of the king and his mounted steed. We can see the curvature of the
The king is made to identifiable and present by being placed in a clear composite pose where his lower body and face are in profile while his upper body and torso are front facing. We are also able to identify him as the king based off of the intricate royal images on him: a crown with a covered globe, a halo behind his head, and an intricate piece of chest armor. None of the same attention is given to the horse, who is in full profile and is not as important to the piece. We can clearly tell that they are in motion by the gilded shadows in the back of the king and horse, as well by the king’s leaning forward. The golden backdrop for the king not only beautifully mirrors animation but also creates a sense of balance and perfection for the king and the things around him. We are then pulled away from the center by the blackish horns of the fleeing and downtrodden rams, which are by far the darkest figures on the plate. This, compared to the golden profile of the rams, presents another clear divide. The rams are in a set of