Colorless (gray) non-lead glass; blown, polished, grozed, ground, engraved. Flat, rectangular sheet; polished flat on both sides; edges grozed and partly ground; engraved scene on one side, depicts a nude female, wearing a crown, sandals, and a string of beads, holding a severed, bearded man's head in her right hand, a sword in her left; a soldier at her right, wearing a plumed helmet, armor and sandals, holds out a sack to receive the head; a headless body lies on grassy ground at their feet, wearing armor and sandals; another soldier stands at the left, wearing a plumed helmet, armor, and boots terminating in animal's heads at his knees; trees and shrubs frame the scene at left and right; small, rectangular "rock" at the lower right, inscribed "HW".

This is one of the earliest known engraved glasses from Nuremberg. It is also the only known piece signed by Hans Wessler, a goldsmith and the first of that city’s glass engravers. The plaque depicts Queen Thomyris with the severed head of Cyrus the Great, king of Persia in the sixth century B.C. Her story is related by the Greek historian Herodotus. Cyrus attempted to conquer the Massagetae in Central Asia, who were ruled by Thomyris. Although her son’s forces fell victim to a trap set by Cyrus, her troops ultimately routed the Persians and killed Cyrus. In Western art, the revenge of Thomyris represents the victory of good over evil. The plaque shown here was based on a copper engraving of 1530 made by Georg Pencz (about 1500-1550) in Nuremberg.