Bowl (late 1100s–early 1200s): Art, History and Details

Bowl (late 1100s–early 1200s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This deep bowl with a wide flat rim is coated with a pale sea-green glaze. The interior is divided into three triangular sections by a simple foliate pattern. Within each triangle, a seated figure holding a cup is reserved in splashes of chocolate-colored luster. The rim is decorated with 15 panels containing freely painted dots and strokes, which suggest highly abstracted script.

Object facts

• Title: Bowl
• Date: late 1100s–early 1200s
• Culture: Ayyubid Syria, Rusapha
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: fritware with luster-painted design
• Dimensions: Overall: 10.2 x 36 cm (4 x 14 3/16 in.)
• Collection: Islamic Art
• Department: Islamic Art
• Accession number: 1944.75

A detail from the museum

Fritware approximates the appearance of porcelain. Potters made a paste of ground quartz, clay, and glass, which when fired, created a compact white material closely resembling precious porcelain.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Dimand, Maurice Sven. Loan Exhibition of Ceramic Art of the Near East, New York, May 12 to June 28, MCMXXXI. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1931.
• Dimand, Maurice Sven. Loan Exhibition of Ceramic Art of the Near East, New York, May 12 to June 28, MCMXXXI. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1931.
• Anderson Galleries, New York. The V. Everit Macy Collection : Including Rare and Important Persian and Mesopotamian Pottery, Persian and Indian Miniatures, Persian Brocades and Velvet Carpets. January 6–8, 1938 Sale.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.