Luster Bowl with Antelope (1000s): Art, History and Details

Luster Bowl with Antelope (1000s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The production of lusterware flourished in the prosperous Fatimid court in Cairo. The technique used metal oxides to paint designs onto a ceramic vessel. It was expensive and unpredictable but, if done correctly, would create a glistening effect. Fatimid lusterware motifs are quite varied, drawing on Greek and Christian themes, floral and vegetal designs, and a menagerie of animals. Some scenes focus on a single creature, as is the case with the antelope on this dish, while others evoke courtly themes of hunting or banquets.

Object facts

• Title: Luster Bowl with Antelope
• Date: 1000s
• Culture: Egypt, Fustat (Old Cairo), Fatimid period (909–1171)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: earthenware with luster-painted design
• Dimensions: Diameter: 25.4 cm (10 in.); Overall: 6.8 cm (2 11/16 in.)
• Collection: Islamic Art
• Department: Islamic Art
• Accession number: 1944.476

A detail from the museum

The luster technique was transmitted by Iraqi potters to the Fatimid court in Cairo.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cossío, Manuel B., and José Pijoán. Summa artis, historia general del arte. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1931.
• Cox, Warren E. The Book of Pottery and Porcelain. New York: L. Lee and Shepard Co.; distributed by Crown Publishers, 1944.
• Islamic Art: Selected Examples from the Loan Exhibition of Islamic Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1944.

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.