Harvard Art Museums > 2002.50.54: Bowl with Bird and Flowers 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 Bird and Flowers , 2002.50.54,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Dec 05, 2023, https://hvrd.art/o/165384. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 2002.50.54 Title Bowl with Bird and Flowers Classification Vessels Work Type vessel Date 10th-11th century Places Creation Place: Middle East, Iran Period Samanid period Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/165384 Physical Descriptions Medium Red earthenware covered in off-white slip and painted with black (manganese and iron), green (chromium), and red (iron) under clear lead glaze Technique Underglazed, painted Dimensions 8.7 x 23.8 cm (3 7/16 x 9 3/8 in.) Provenance Recorded Ownership History [Mansour Gallery, London, 1971], sold; to Stanford and Norma Jean Calderwood, Belmont, MA (1971-2002), 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 2002.50.54 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 The decoration on the interior of this vessel is characteristic of slip-painted wares now generally attributed to workshops in a region south of the Caspian Sea. Typically, as here, the design of these bowls is dominated by a single large, leftward-facing bird with distended belly, elaborately crested head, and two-colored, bifurcated tail. Birds and surrounding flowers are often outlined in a darker color that may be topped with tiny white dots; white dots also accent dark spots on the bird’s body. Off-white slip and green-tinged glaze completely coat the interior of this bowl. On the exterior, the slip only patchily covers the walls, and the glaze is restricted to the area around the rim. The concave base is uncoated. The bowl has been reassembled from about ten fragments, with plaster replacing losses in the lower left quadrant of the center, and it retains earlier and rather awkward overpainting of the bird’s lower belly and legs. Published Catalogue Text: In Harmony: The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art , written 201320 Bowl with bird and flowers Iran, 10th–11th century Red earthenware covered in off-white slip and painted with black (manganese and iron), green (chromium), and red (iron) under clear lead glaze 8.7 × 23.8 cm (3 7/16 × 9 3/8 in.) 2002.50.54 Published: McWilliams 2003, 227, 229, fig. 4. The decoration on the interior of this vessel is characteristic of slip-painted wares now generally attributed to workshops in a region south of the Caspian Sea.[1] Typically, as here, the design of these bowls is dominated by a single large, leftward-facing bird with distended belly, elaborately crested head, and two-colored, bifurcated tail. Birds and surrounding flowers are often outlined in a darker color that may be topped with tiny white dots; white dots also accent dark spots on the bird’s body. Off-white slip and green-tinged glaze completely coat the interior of this bowl. On the exterior, the slip only patchily covers the walls, and the glaze is restricted to the area around the rim. The concave base is uncoated. The bowl has been reassembled from about ten fragments, with plaster replacing losses in the lower left quadrant of the center, and it retains earlier and rather awkward overpainting of the bird’s lower belly and legs. Mary McWilliams [1] Similar vessels have been known as Sari wares, after a town in northern Iran where they were said to have been produced. See Watson 2004, 243; Pancaroğlu 2007, 73; and Fehérvári 2000, 58–59. Publication History Mary McWilliams, ed., In Harmony: The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2013), p. 183, cat. 20, ill. Exhibition History Overlapping Realms: Arts of the Islamic World and India, 900-1900, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 12/02/2006 - 03/23/2008 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
