Add to Collection

Add this item to an existing or new collection.
Harvard Art Museums
Incorrect Username, Email, or Password
Bowl with scenes of figures on horseback

This white bowl is painted with many figures. All the figures have a light skin tone and chin-length black hair. Their faces are drawn in imprecise, sketchy lines. The two center figures are on horseback, the left on an orange horse and the right on a blue horse. The horses face each other and rear their legs. Four of the figures do not have human bodies but rather bird- or bug-like forms. Swirling, vaguely botanical designs in shades of orange, blue, and green with black linework. The outer border of the bowl has a ring of blue geometric designs.

Gallery Text

As central control weakened in the Abbasid Empire, regional dynasties arose to support, challenge, or redefine the authority of the caliph in Baghdad. The arts flourished in many centers, and wealthy merchant and professional classes emerged. A dramatic increase in productivity and innovation and an unprecedented expansion of figural decoration characterize the arts of this period.

A transforming event was the influx of Turkic and Mongol peoples from Central and Inner Asia. Most of the objects in this case were created in lands ruled by the most important of the Turkic dynasties, the Great Seljuks (1038–1157), and their immediate successors, the Atabegs. The Mongol invasions into Islamic lands began in the early 1200s and culminated in the 1258 sack of Baghdad. Eventually, the Mongols established their rule as the Yuan dynasty in China, the Chagatay Khanate in Central Asia, the Golden Horde Khanate in southern Russia, and the Ilkhanid dynasty (1256–1335) in greater Iran. The integration of a vast Eurasian territory into the Mongol Empire facilitated commerce and communication, bringing fresh Chinese inspiration into Islamic art.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1936.34
Title
Mina'i Bowl with Horsemen, Seated Figures and Harpies, and Pseudo-inscription around the Exterior
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
1200-1250
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Isfahan province
Period
Seljuk-Atabeg period
Culture
Persian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/216883

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2550, Art from Islamic Lands, The Middle East and North Africa
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Fritware with overglaze painted decoration in mina'i technique
Dimensions
8.7 x 22.2 x 22.2 cm (3 7/16 x 8 3/4 x 8 3/4 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Sarah C. Sears collection, Boston, MA, (by 1935) by descent; to her daughter Mrs. J. D. Cameron Bradley, Boston, MA (1935-1936), gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1936.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Sarah C. Sears Collection
Accession Year
1936
Object Number
1936.34
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
Functional objects raised to the level of art through luxurious and imaginative manufacture offer a glimpse of the privilege enjoyed by members of the court and the wealthy merchant class. These bowls were decorated in a costly technique known as minaʾi (enameled) that required multiple firings in the kiln to ensure a range of colors. With precise application of a varied palette, minaʾi gave to ceramics the expressive potential of the book arts.

Publication History

  • Mary McWilliams, "Islamic Ceramic Traditions", The Studio Potter, ed. Gerry Williams (New Hampshire, December 2002), vol. 31, no.1, pp45, fig. 5
  • Jessica Chloros, "An Investigation of Cobalt Pigment on Islamic Ceramics at the Harvard Art Museums" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, 2008), Unpublished, pp. 1-41 passim
  • Tony Sigel, Avoiding mistakes: How not to lose things, Objects Specialty Group Postprints, ed. Emily Hamilton and Kari Dodson, American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works (https://resources.culturalheritage.org/osg-postprints/v23/sigel2/, 2016), 23, Pages 322-327, Figure 6, Page 325

Exhibition History

  • Islamic Art and the Written Word, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 10/05/1983 - 11/27/1983
  • Paintings for Princes: The Art of the Book in Islam, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/27/1990 - 03/25/1990
  • Re-View: Arts of India & the Islamic Lands, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 04/26/2008 - 06/01/2013
  • 32Q: 2550 Islamic, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or 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