Bowl with Relief Decoration of Fish and Flowers

Identification and Creation

Object Number: 2002.50.105
Title: Bowl with Relief Decoration of Fish and Flowers
Classification: Vessels
Work Type: vessel
Date: 20th century
Places: Creation Place: Middle East, Iran
Persistent Link: https://hvrd.art/o/160275

Physical Descriptions

Medium: Pinkish fritware with beaded and trailed slip relief, painted with black (chromite) under turquoise (copper) transparent alkali glaze
Technique: Mold-made
Dimensions: 9.2 x 19.9 cm (3 5/8 x 7 13/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History: [Mansour Gallery, London, 1974], sold; to Stanford and Norma Jean Calderwood, Belmont, MA (1974-2002), 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: 2002.50.105
Division: Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact: am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description: Acquired as a fourteenth-century example of East Asian influence on Persian ceramics, this bowl in fact echoes Yuan-dynasty celadon dishes with molded fish decoration from a far greater distance in time. The irregularly formed relief motifs—fish and rosettes—appear to have been built up with beaded and trailed slip. In finer examples of this design, the bodies of the fish curve to create a swirling movement; here the motifs are positioned along radii, yielding a static effect. With the exception of two chips at the foot and a blind crack in the base, the bowl is intact. Turquoise glaze covers the body of the vessel, stopping well short of the low foot ring; iridescence clouds the glaze along the wall on both interior and exterior. The bowl was last fired within the past 100 years, according to the results of thermoluminescence analysis carried out in 2004.

Published Catalogue Text: In Harmony: The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art , written 2013
143

Bowl with relief decoration of fish and flowers
Probably Iran, 20th century[1]
Pinkish fritware with beaded and trailed slip relief, painted with black (chromite) under turquoise (copper) transparent alkali glaze
9.2 × 19.9 cm (35/8 × 713/16 in.)
2002.50.105

Acquired as a fourteenth-century example of East Asian influence on Persian ceramics, this bowl in fact echoes Yuan-dynasty celadon dishes with molded fish decoration from a far greater distance in time. The irregularly formed relief motifs—fish and rosettes—appear to have been built up with beaded and trailed slip. In finer examples of this design, the bodies of the fish curve to create a swirling movement; here the motifs are positioned along radii, yielding a static effect.

With the exception of two chips at the foot and a blind crack in the base, the bowl is intact. Turquoise glaze covers the body of the vessel, stopping well short of the low foot ring; iridescence clouds the glaze along the wall on both interior and exterior.

Mary McWilliams

[1] The bowl was last fired within the past 100 years, according to the results of thermoluminescence analysis carried out by Oxford Authentication Ltd. in 2004.

Publication History

Mary McWilliams, ed., In Harmony: The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2013), p. 269, cat. 143, ill.

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

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2002.50.105: Bowl with Relief Decoration of Fish and Flowers