Bowl

Bowl on a low ring foot. Reddish body of soft, fine-grained clay, covered with white tin glaze and a yellow gold luster decoration of a dancing girl on the inside and of irregular circles and strokes in reddish luster, now partly rubbed off, on the outside. Green spot of oxidized copper on the inside. Broken and put together, five missing sherds replaced by painted plaster.

Historical period(s)
Fatimid period, 12th century
Medium
earthenware painted over glaze with luster
Dimensions
H x W: 6.7 x 26.1 cm (2 5/8 x 10 1/4 in)
Geography
Egypt
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1946.30
On View Location
Freer Gallery 03: Engaging the Senses
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Bowl

Keywords
dance, earthenware, Egypt, Fatimid period (909 - 1171)
Provenance

To 1946
Brummer Gallery, Inc., New York. [1]

From 1946
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from the Brummer Gallery, Inc., New York. [2]

Notes:

[1] Object folder, undated folder sheet note. Also see Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List after 1920, Collections Management Office.

[2] See note 1.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Brummer Gallery, Inc.

Description

Bowl on a low ring foot. Reddish body of soft, fine-grained clay, covered with white tin glaze and a yellow gold luster decoration of a dancing girl on the inside and of irregular circles and strokes in reddish luster, now partly rubbed off, on the outside. Green spot of oxidized copper on the inside. Broken and put together, five missing sherds replaced by painted plaster.

Label

Figural representations, such as this sensuous female dancer, played a prominent role in luster-painted ceramics in twelfth-century Egypt. Although the vessels were made from coarser clay than earlier Iraqi examples, the decoration, like much of the art of the Fatimid period (909-1171), tended to be more animated and naturalistic. The plate is further embellished with an inscription bestowing good wishes on its anonymous owner.

Published References
  • Muhammad Hassan Zaki. Kunuz al-Fatimiyin: Treasures of the Fatimids. Publications du Musee Arabe du Caire Cairo. pl. 33B.
  • Sekai bijutsu zenshu [A Complete Collection of World Art]. 40 vols., Tokyo, 1960-1966. vol. 22: pl. 65.
  • Franz Rosenthal. Four Essays on Art and Literature in Islam. The L.A. Mayer Memorial Studies in Islamic Art and Archaeology, vol. 2 London. pl. 18.
  • Perry Blythe Cott. Siculo-Arabic Ivories. Princeton Monographs in Art and Archaeology, Folio Series, no. 3 Princeton. pl. 78 b.
  • Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections. 12 vols., Tokyo. vol. 10, pl. 298.
  • Richard Ettinghausen. Painting in the Fatimid Period: A Reconstruction. vol. 9 Ann Arbor. fig. 2, 10.
  • Masterpieces of Western and Near Eastern Ceramics. 8 vols., Tokyo and New York. pl. 30.
  • Aly Bey Bahgat, Felix Massoul. Le Ceramique Musulmane de l'Egypte. Cairo. pls. 18-4, 26-6.
  • Giorgio Levi Della Vida, Richard Ettinghausen. Studi Orientalistici in Onore di Giorgio Levi Della Vida. Pubblicazioni dell'Instituto per l'Oriente, no. 52 2 vols., Rome. p. 5.
  • Richard Ettinghausen. Medieval Near Eastern Ceramics in the Freer Gallery of Art. Washington and Baltimore. p. 17.
  • Annette Hagedorn. Islamic Art. Germany. p. 35.
  • Dr. Esin Atil. Art of the Arab World. Exh. cat. Washington, 1975. cat. 16, pp. 44-45.
  • Smithsonian Institution. Report of the Secretary, 1946-1947. Washington. p. 46, pl. 1.
  • Farhad Daftary, Zulfikar Hirji. The Ismailis: An Illustrated History. London. p. 92.
  • Dr. Esin Atil. Ceramics from the World of Islam. Exh. cat. Washington, 1973. cat. 58, pp. 130-131.
  • Islamic Art and Archaeology: Collected Papers. Berlin. pp. 158-181.
  • Richard Ettinghausen, O. Graber. The Art and Architecture of Islam, 650-1250. The Pelican History of Art Hammondsworth, United Kingdom and New York. p. 200, fig. 189.
  • Gaston Maspero, Jean Maspero. Melanges Maspero. 3 vols., Le Caire, 1934-. pp. 249-251, figs. 16-7, J-L.
Collection Area(s)
Arts of the Islamic World
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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