Bowl Fragment with Arabic Inscription (Mamluk dynasty (1250–1517), 14th–15th century): Artwork and History

Bowl Fragment with Arabic Inscription (Mamluk dynasty (1250–1517), 14th–15th century) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Islamic; Fustat (now Cairo), Egypt.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

This ceramic bowl fragment was decorated using sgraffito, a technique in which an artist applied a colored slip or glaze to pottery, then incised it to reveal the contrasting color of the clay underneath. On the inside of this bowl, inscribed in brick-red exposed pottery, the wide band of Arabic calligraphy appears to read nās ‘ala al-majlis, or “people on the council.” This probably refers to the person who commissioned it, likely a member of the Mamluk military government. The exterior inscription, also incised on exposed pottery, is probably an Islamic blessing. In the background, the artist depicted vine scrolls glazed in black, playing with shapes reminiscent of Arabic writing.

Object facts

• Title: Bowl Fragment with Arabic Inscription
• Date: Mamluk dynasty (1250–1517), 14th–15th century
• Artist attribution: Islamic; Fustat (now Cairo), Egypt
• Place of origin: Old Cairo
• Medium: Glazed ceramic
• Dimensions: 15.3 × 16.8 × 2.1 cm (6 1/16 × 6 5/8 × 7/8 in.)
• Type: Vessel
• Department: Arts of Africa
• Reference number: 1925.415

Collection credit

Logan-Patten-Ryerson collection

View the original

Explore the artwork in the Art Institute's collection, including its image and the museum's current catalogue details.

The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.