Relief from Imperial Reception Hall with servant bearing wine

ca. 500 B.C.

This relief has paid tribute several times over the past 2500 years. Originally part of the Achaemenid capitol's reception hall, this figure marched toward the king to deliver his offering of wine, carried in a skin over his shoulder. It was one of thousands carved to remind visitors to Persepolis of the wide variety of people living gratefully within the Achaemenid empire, and of the tribute they, too, must pay to the king. More recently, in 1940, a group of Seattleites purchased this relief for the museum's collection in memory of their friend, lawyer and local historian Winlock Miller, Jr., after his sudden death at the age of 33.

Limestone

20 1/2 x 14 3/4 in. (52.07 x 37.47 cm)

Overall 77 x 28 3/4 x 6 3/4 in.

Gift of friends of Winlock Miller, Jr., in appreciation of his civic service, 1931-1939

40.49

Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

Published ReferencesFuller, Richard E. Seattle Art Museum. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1946, p. 20

Handbook, Seattle Art Museum: Selected Works from the Permanent Collections, Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1951, p. 14 (b&w)

Rogers, Millard B., Engagement Book: Iranian Art in the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1972, fig. 16.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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