Iran, 224-651 AD. Well cast with a flattened circular body surmounted by a short cylindrical neck set with a pair of beast-form handles, skillfully decorated to each side with a mustachioed hero riding a mythical beast with the head of a lion, scaly tail of a serpent, and stylized wings incised with scroll, all below a crowned face with large almond-shaped eyes, the narrow sides with blossoms borne on scrolling vines.

Provenance: The collection of The Zelnik István Southeast Asian Gold Museum, acquired in London in the mid-1990s. Dr. István Zelnik, President of the Hungarian South and Southeast Asian Research Institute, is a former high-ranking Hungarian diplomat who spent several decades in Southeast Asia, building the largest known private collection of Asian art in Europe. In December 2025, he was awarded medals of national recognition by the Royal Government of Cambodia for his exceptional contributions to the scientific study, preservation, and international understanding of Angkor and Koh Ker. Zelnik founded the Hungarian Southeast Asian Institute in the early 2000s. The Institute supported a range of research programs at Angkor and Koh Ker, including archaeological surveys, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) investigations, epigraphic studies, and historical research. These efforts have contributed to a deeper understanding of the Angkorian empire, the pre-Angkor period, and Cambodia's prehistoric times. Research supported by the institute played a key role in raising international awareness of Koh Ker and led to its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Condition: Very good condition with ancient wear and expected casting irregularities. Small nicks, few dings, light scratches, and minor surface corrosion. Fine, naturally grown patina with minor verdigris within crevices.

Weight: 1,567 g
Dimensions: Height 20.6 cm

Did you know?
Leather, ceramic, and metal pilgrim flasks had been made in the Mediterranean since Antiquity. The form later became quite popular in China and the Islamic world. Vessels of this shape are often called 'pilgrim flasks' because of their resemblance to the souvenir vessels sold at Christian pilgrimage sites around the Mediterranean, beginning in the late Roman Empire. Yet this shape existed long before the advent of Christianity, so this term is somewhat misleading. See a Hellenistic pottery flask, 3rd-2nd century BC, in the British Museum, registration number 1836,0224.420; and a Parthian glazed ceramic pilgrim flask, ca. 3rd century BC-3rd century AD, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 48.98.2.

Literature comparison:
Compare a related Sasanian parcel-gilt silver vase, dated 6th-7th century, in the State Hermitage Museum and published numerously, for example illustrated in Carl Einstein, Exposition de statuettes de bronze antiques antérieures à notre ère (art hittite, étrusque, égyptien, grec), 1933, Musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac (ed.), 2011 reprint, p. 245, fig. 7. Compare a related Sasanian silver bottle, 17.2 cm high, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession number 58.94. Compare a related parcel-gilt silver dish depicting a simurgh, dated 7th-8th century, 19.3 cm diameter, in the British Museum, registration number 1922,0308.1. Compare also a smaller tin-lead alloy pilgrim flask of Saint Sergios, Syria, 6th-7th century, 5.4 cm high, in the Walters Art Museum, accession number 55.105.