Court Official Holding Staff of Office

358 - 338 BCE

Persian

On View

Ancient Middle East Gallery, Level 1, West Wing

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Provenance

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Catalogue Raisonné

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About the Artwork

The palace of Darius the Great, located in Persepolis in southern Iran, was restored by Artaxerxes III by the addition of a western staircase with relief representations of dignitaries from the twenty-six subject states of the empire bearing gifts to the “king of kings.” Each foreign group is led by a Persian official holding a staff. This relief illustrates such a marshal wearing the Persian headdress and robe with a dagger thrust into the belt. His left hand once grasped that of the leader of the next delegation. In front of him a fragment of the garment of another envoy survives.

Title Court Official Holding Staff of Office

Artwork Date 358 - 338 BCE

Artist ----------

Life Dates ----------

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Persian

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Limestone

Dimensions Overall: 25 5/8 × 22 inches (65.1 × 55.9 cm)

Classification Sculpture

Department Ancient Near Eastern Art

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Antiquaries Fund and Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund.

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 79.31

Markings

Inscriptions ------

Provenance

(Charles Dikran Kelekian)

1979-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Bulletin of the DIA 58, no 4 (1980): p. 230 (ill).

A Visitors Guide: The Detroit Institute of Arts, ed. Julia P. Henshaw (Detroit 1995), p. 99 (ill.)

Peck, Elsie Holmes. “Achaemenid Relief Fragments from Persepolis,” Bulletin of the DIA 79, no. 1/2 (2005): p. 28 (fig. 12).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Persian; Iranian, Court Official Holding Staff of Office, 358 - 338 BCE, limestone. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Antiquaries Fund and Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund., 79.31.