The harness pendant, or phalera, convex in shape, represents a man's head, the hair and moustache of which were once gilded. On the chin are three rubbed Byzantine control stamps which were presumably added when the phalera was brought into the Empire and reused.

A. Alföldi and E. Cruikshank, "A Sassanian Silver Phalera in Dumbarton Oaks," DOP 11 (1957), 237-45.

R. J. Gettens and C. L. Waring, "The Composition of Some Ancient Persian and Other Near Eastern Silver Objects," Ars Orientalis 2 (1957), 88, no. 13.

E. C. Dodd, Byzantine Silver Stamps, Dumbarton Oaks Studies 7 (Washington, DC, 1961), 268, no. 99.

M. Ross, Catalogue of the Byzantine and Early Mediaeval Antiquities in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection, Vol. I, Metalwork, Ceramics, Glass, Glyptics, Painting (Washington, DC, 1962), 23, no. 18, and pl. XXI.

Handbook of the Dumbarton Oaks Collection, Harvard University (Washington, DC, 1967), no. 52.

Fogg Museum of Art, September 1972 through June 1975 (long-term loan for general exhibition).

Acquired in Istanbul, July, 1952.

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Byzantine Collection, Washington, D.C.