The raised knee of this servant indicates that he is mounting a staircase. Comparison with other sections indicates that the staircase gave access to the palace of Xerxes at Persepolis, the capital of the ancient Persian Achaemenid Empire. The covering over the tribute heaped on the servant’s tray is a sign of deference for the king of kings.
Provenance
- From the Palace of Darius or the Palace of Xerxes at Persepolis, Iran; Dikran Kelekian (1867–1951); purchased from Kelekian by Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss, Washington, DC, 1932; transferred to Harvard University, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Byzantine Collection, Washington, DC, November 1940.
Selected Bibliography
- G. M. A. Richter, Catalogue of Greek and Roman Antiquities in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection (Cambridge, MA, 1956), 1–2, no. 1, plate 1A.
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