570 



A Sketch of the Second Silver Plate found at Badakshdn. By Alex- 

 ander Cunningham, Esq. 



In the seventh volume of the Journal of the Asiatic Society, at page 

 1047, was published a sketch of an ancient silver plate, obtained by the 

 late Dr. Lord in Badakshdn. In a letter to me, enclosing a drawing of 

 a second silver plate, which he had fortunately obtained, he mentioned a 

 fact regarding the first plate which is worth preserving; namely, that 

 it " had been an heir-loom in the family of the Meers of Badakshan, 

 who claim to be the descendants of Alexander the Great ; and it had 

 been sold by them in their distress, when they were conquered and 

 imprisoned by Meer Morad Beg of Kunduz, to Atma Ram, his D6wan 

 Beghi." 



Regarding the second plate, I cannot do better than quote Dr. Lord's 

 own words : " I was aware there was a second patera, but I failed in all 

 my attempts to get it when I was before in the country. I have now 

 however succeeded ; but find, to my astonishment, that its subject is 

 not Grecian, but pure Persian ; probably Shapur killing a lion, as seen 

 in the Persepolitan figures. The patera is pure silver; weight 104 

 kaldar rupees, (312 drs.) the workmanship of unequal merit; the 

 heads of both man and horse, particularly the latter, appear to me far 

 superior to the other parts ; you will notice the peculiar way in which 

 the horse's tail is tied up." 



I can add nothing to Dr. Lord's description, except that the original 

 silver plate is 11*2 inches in diameter; and that there is a short in- 

 scription of dotted letters on the back of the plates ; which appear to 

 me to resemble very closely the Pehlvi characters of the Sassanian coins. 



Dotted inscription on the back of Dr. Lord's plate- For the facsimile COpy of this 



/ / \ ^^\ . , inscription, I am indebted to 

 .♦;..,«,**I,*.* '•..^••••'' *••' / V* |.]^g kindness of Lady Sale. 



In the four corners of the sketch, I have represented four coins, illus- 

 trative of the subject on the silver plate. 



No. 2 is the obverse of a silver Sassanian coin, published in the 

 Journal of the Asiatic Society y vol. vi. 14, fig. 1, by Mr. Prinsep, 



