Scythian Rhyton from the Louvre Museum

 Salvete Omnes,

a short entry today:
the Louvre Museum graciously made available on their website a collection  of photographs of one highly unusual silver rhyton. 
Allegedly this artwork comes from the Pontic steppe - Crimea and/or Kherson area etc - and was acquired by the museum in 1960s.
The vessel, shaped like a head of a wild boar, is decorated with some highly unusual art showing the Pontic Scythians and their horse in full tack. 
This work has never been seen by me and upon doing some research  I came upon some scholars who question its alleged origin  - the IV century BC. My friend and scholar dr Patryk Skupiniewicz, when asked, also was highly skeptical about this rhyton's origin. 
But the figures are quite splendid and beautiful, so let us enjoy this art for what it is prima facie  

the images are posted under the  Louvre  copyright as per their terms and conditions - 4.1.1 & 4.1.2.

Valete

Curb bit form the Louvre

Salve,
  I visited the Louvre Museum last spring and amongst the thousands upon thousands of art objects displayed there (imagine the many more thousands they have in their storage), I photographed this curb-bit, in Morisco fashion, from northern India, as far as I can recall, located in the section of the Museum dedicated to the Asian arts. Perhaps someone saw it there and could add some more info about this artefact.
.

.


ps
pardonez moi the quality of the photos, poor light inside and prohibition on the usage of  flash.