Nisa
Rhyta
Among the finds made in Nisa by the JuTAKE, the most exceptional comprise the approximately 50 ivory rhyta (tall decorated vessels used for serving and pouring liquids) whose fragments were found on the clay counters in one of the rooms of the Square House (Masson-Pugačenkova 1982). Although the rhyton’s shape is of Iranian origin, it was also widespread in the Greek world and in the steppes. The technical and artistic level of the masterpieces from Old Nisa is very high.
The importance of this exceptional class of materials is at the basis of missions that in recent years have seen specialists from the Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino work on some of the pieces that were found. This work included cleaning, restoration, integration and consolidation of some of the poorly preserved friezes (2002), and all pieces were graphically (drawings, 2001-2 and 2005) and photographically documented.
The rhyta from Nisa are composed of several pieces assembled together and are subdivided for the most part in an upper frieze with figures, a smooth central body and an end piece that also depicts figures.
The iconography of the depicted subjects is immediately ascribable to a Hellenistic context (including the twelve Olympian gods, Dionysian processions on the friezes, themes from Greek mythology on the end pieces), but the execution of these motifs always displays central Asian influences, evident from the fuller figures, the exaggerated shapes and in the recurring presence of typically eastern subjects such as the gryphon and the Gopatshah.