This finely carved silver dish is in the form of a boat, a shape well attested in Sassanian silverware. The concave form of the artefact commonly allowed Sassanian artists to divide the decoration in two places: a central figure on the bottom of the vessel, and a series of patterned motifs around the inner rim.

In this case the central figure, incised with exceptional care and attention to detail in the silver, is a female courtier playing the barbat, a lute of Central Asian or Greater Iranian or Persian origin which was used at the Sassanian court. The Sassanians followed in the cultural footsteps of the Achaemenids, under whose rule music had an exceptional importance in public and religious life. In fact, under the Sassanian period Persian music reached its zenit, also thanks to the patronage of a number of Kings including the founder of the Sassanian empire Ardashir I (r. 211 - 224 CE), Bahram V (r. 420 - 438), and Khosrow II (r. 590 - 628). The musician on this vessel is dressed with a tight fitting garment decorated with stripes, and a transparent veil draped around. The transparence of the fabric is render with exceptional beauty and precision, a sure sign of the great artistic refinement of Sassanian artists. A long band decorated with a geometric pattern is tied around her head and flows freely on both sides adding a sense of movement to the figure. Around the courtier vines with leaves and mature grapes. An interesting iconographic comparable for the essential items of this vessel is a dish preserved at the British Museum (1963,1210.3).