A PARTHIAN SILVER FIGURAL DAGGER HANDLE, IRAN, 247 BC to 224 ADFinely modeled as a standing nobleman wearing long robes with thick hems, the hands placed in front below the chest, the face with large almond-shaped eyes and a prominent bearded chin, the curled hair arranged in an elaborate coiffure.Provenance: Galerie Véronique Prévot, Paris, France. RD Collection Paris, acquired from the above. Véronique Prévot is an expert and dealer of Asian and non-European art, with a gallery located in Paris near Hôtel Drouot. She regularly exhibits at Printemps Asiatique Paris and lends her expertise to various auction houses. Condition: Very good condition, commensurate with age. Wear, minor losses, small nicks, light scratches, tiny dents, and encrustations.Weight: 55.8 g (excl. base) and 76.2 g (incl. base) Dimensions: Height 8.6 cm (excl. base) and 11.6 cm (incl. base)Mounted on an associated base. (2)The Parthian Empire, also known as the Arsacid Empire, was a major political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conquering the region of Parthia in Iran's northeast, then a satrapy (province) under Andragoras, who was rebelling against the Seleucid Empire. Mithridates I (r. c. 171-132 BC) greatly expanded the empire by seizing Media and Mesopotamia from the Seleucids. At its height, the Parthian Empire stretched from the northern reaches of the Euphrates, in what is now central-eastern Turkey, to present-day Afghanistan and western Pakistan. The empire, located on the Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean Basin and the Han dynasty of China, became a center of trade and commerce.The Parthians largely adopted the art, architecture, religious beliefs, and royal insignia of their culturally heterogeneous empire, which encompassed Persian, Hellenistic, and regional cultures. For about the first half of its existence, the Arsacid court adopted elements of Greek culture, though it eventually saw a gradual revival of Iranian traditions. The Arsacid rulers were titled the "King of Kings" as a claim to be the heirs to the Achaemenid Empire; indeed, they accepted many local kings as vassals where the Achaemenids would have had centrally appointed, albeit largely autonomous, satraps.