Silver Beaker with birds and animals, Thracian, 4th century BCE
"From the mid-first millennium, such objects as ceremonial helmets, armor, cups, and ornamental gear for horses—worked from silver and sometimes gilded—have been discovered in graves and in finds that must have been the buried hoards of Thracian princes and chiefs. This silver beaker is a fine example of fourth century B.C. Thracian workmanship. It probably was made in the region of present-day Romania or Bulgaria, as similar beakers have been found in a princely tomb at Agighiol, near the delta of the Danube in eastern Romania. The beaker is raised from a single piece of silver with a stamped, chased, and repoussé design." - The Metropolitan Museum of Art This view of the beaker features a stag-like creature with eight legs, although it may indicate the presence of two stags side by side. Its antlers extend into a border of tines ending in bird heads that circle the upper portion of the cup. The opposite side of the beaker depicts a horned bird of prey holding a fish in it...