Shallow Bowl

Hammered from a single sheet of metal, this silver phiale (libation bowl) has a shallow central navel or omphalos and is decorated with a pattern of radiating petals or leaves and, inserted between them, 14 lobes rendered in repoussé. The tips of the petals split to form an arch above each lobe, and a small upside-down teardrop appears where they split, as if growing from a calyx of leaves. There is a centering mark on the undersaide of the omphalos, and there are fine horizontal striations especially on the exterior of the rim. Black and brown patina with patches of green; crack in one lobe.