Region of Takht-i Kuwad, Tadjikistan, Achaemenid Persian, 5th-4th century BC

This is one of the most outstanding pieces in the Oxus treasure, the most important surviving collection of gold and silver to have
survived from the Achaemenid period. The model chariot is pulled by four horses or ponies.
In it are two figures wearing Median dress. The Medes were from Iran, the centre of the Achaemenid empire.
The front of the chariot is decorated with the Egyptian dwarf-god Bes, a popular protective deity.

The Oxus treasure is the most important surviving collection of Achaemenid Persian metalwork. It consists of about 170 objects,
dating mainly from the fifth and fourth centuries BC. This was the time of the Achaemenid empire, created by Cyrus the Great (559-530 BC),
when Persian control stretched from Egypt and the Aegean to Afghanistan and the Indus Valley.