Harvard Art Museums > 2002.50.57: Bowl with Birds Circling an Inscription Vessels Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Bowl with Birds Circling an Inscription , 2002.50.57,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Apr 20, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/165476. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 2002.50.57 Title Bowl with Birds Circling an Inscription Classification Vessels Work Type vessel Date 10th century Places Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Nishapur Period Samanid period Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/165476 Physical Descriptions Medium Reddish earthenware covered in whitish slip and painted with green (chromium) slip under clear lead glaze Technique Underglazed, painted Dimensions 5.9 x 20.7 cm (2 5/16 x 8 1/8 in.) Provenance Recorded Ownership History [Hadji Baba Rabbi House of Antiquities, Teheran, 1970], sold; to Stanford and Norma Jean Calderwood, Belmont, MA (1970-2002), gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2002. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art Accession Year 2002 Object Number 2002.50.57 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Description Potters working during the reign of the Samanid dynasty in northeastern Iran and Central Asia produced some of the most impressive and distinctive wares in the history of Islamic art. One of their most successful decorative techniques involved the use of slips—colored clays in solution—both to envelop the reddish earthenware body of vessels and to add surface designs. The body of this bowl, for example, is covered completely in a whitish slip, with a lively design in olive green painted over it. The green color is produced by fine particles of a chromium compound. Within a rim decorated with running crescents appear two wide-eyed birds, positioned breast-to- tail, who pinwheel around an Arabic inscription in foliated Kufic that reads, “Blessing to him” (baraka lahu). On the exterior, three circles enclosing parallel diagonal lines alternate with three downward-pointing arrows. The crescents, pop-eyed animals, benevolent inscription, and circles echo designs on tenth-century monochrome lusterwares produced in Basra. Slip-painted imitations of Basra vessels seem to have been a specialty of the potters of Nishapur, in northeastern Iran. A clear glaze with a slight greenish tinge covers the interior and exterior of this bowl, including its beveled, slightly concave base. The vessel has been put back together from fragments, with painted plaster filling in losses in the wing of the inverted bird. Published Catalogue Text: In Harmony: The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art , written 20138 Bowl with two birds circling an inscription Iran, Nishapur, Samanid period, 10th century[1] Reddish earthenware covered in whitish slip and painted with green (chromium) slip under clear lead glaze 5.9 × 20.7 cm (2 5/16 × 8 1/8 in.) 2002.50.57 Published: McWilliams 2004, 11. Potters working during the reign of the Samanid dynasty (819–999) in northeastern Iran and Central Asia produced some of the most impressive and distinctive wares in the history of Islamic art. One of their most successful decorative techniques involved the use of slips—colored clays in solution—both to envelop the reddish earthenware body of vessels and to add surface designs. The body of this bowl, for example, is covered completely in a whitish slip, with a lively design in olive green painted over it. The green color is produced by fine particles of a chromium compound. Within a rim decorated with running crescents appear two wide-eyed birds, positioned breast-to-tail, who pinwheel around an Arabic inscription in foliated Kufic that reads, “Blessing to him” (baraka lahu). On the exterior, three circles enclosing parallel diagonal lines alternate with three downward-pointing arrows. The crescents, pop-eyed animals, benevolent inscription, and circles echo designs on tenth-century monochrome lusterwares produced in Basra (see cats. 4–7). Slip-painted imitations of Basra vessels seem to have been a specialty of the potters of Nishapur, in northeastern Iran.[2] A clear glaze with a slight greenish tinge covers the interior and exterior of this bowl, including its beveled, slightly concave base. The vessel has been put back together from fragments, with painted plaster filling in losses in the wing of the inverted bird. Mary McWilliams [1] The bowl was last fired between 800 and 1300 years ago, according to the results of thermoluminescence analysis carried out by Oxford Authentication Ltd. in 2011. [2] Fehérvári 2000, 63. Publication History Mary McWilliams, ed., In Harmony: The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2013), p. 174, cat. 8, ill. Exhibition History Closely Focused, Intensely Felt: Selections from the Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/07/2004 - 01/02/2005 In Harmony: The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/31/2013 - 06/01/2013 Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
