Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum | Bush-Reisinger Museum | Arthur M. Sackler Museum

Object Number

2002.50.85

Title

Ten-sided Bowl with High Foot

Classification

Vessels

Work Type

vessel

Date

14th century

Places

Creation Place: Middle East, Iran

Period

Ilkhanid period

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/165188

Medium

Fritware painted with blue (cobalt), turquoise (copper), and black (chromium) under clear alkali glaze

Technique

Underglazed, painted

Dimensions

9.7 x 13.6 cm (3 13/16 x 5 3/8 in.)

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art

Accession Year

2002

Object Number

2002.50.85

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

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Description

On the interior, this bowl is divided into ten radial sections, corresponding with its sides, that feature two alternating designs. One is pseudo-calligraphic, proceeding from the center of the bowl to the rim, with horizontal elements contracting and verticals expanding. The other design is tripartite and abstract. The intricacy and dark coloration of the interior contrast with the cheerful simplicity of the outside, where the white ceramic body remains more visible through a surface embellishment of lines and dots. The shape and decoration of this bowl are common among wares attributed to the Ilkhanid period, although their production place has not been definitively established.

Published Catalogue Text: In Harmony: The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art , written 2013
39

Ten-sided bowl with high foot
Iran, Ilkhanid period, 14th century[1]
Fritware painted with blue (cobalt), turquoise (copper), and black (chromium) under clear alkali glaze
9.7 × 13.6 cm (3 13/16 × 5 3/8 in.)
2002.50.85

On the interior, this bowl is divided into ten radial sections, corresponding with its sides, that feature two alternating designs. One is pseudo-calligraphic, proceeding from the center of the bowl to the rim, with horizontal elements contracting and verticals expanding. The other design is tripartite and abstract. The intricacy and dark coloration of the interior contrast with the cheerful simplicity of the outside, where the white ceramic body remains more visible through a surface embellishment of lines and dots.[2] The shape and decoration of this bowl are common among wares attributed to the Ilkhanid period, although their production place has not been definitively established.

Ayşin Yoltar-Yıldırım

[1] The bowl was last fired between 400 and 700 years ago, according to the results of thermoluminescence analysis carried out by Oxford Authentication Ltd. in 2012.
[2] A bowl with very similar exterior decoration is in the Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC. See Cort et al. 2000, 66.

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

Mary McWilliams, ed., In Harmony: The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2013), p. 195, cat. 39, ill.

In Harmony: The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/31/2013 - 06/01/2013

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