Alms Bowl | Harvard Art Museums

Identification and Creation

Object Number: 2002.50.86
Title: Alms Bowl
Classification: Vessels
Work Type: vessel
Date: 18th-20th century
Places: Creation Place: Middle East, Iran
Period: Modern
Persistent Link: https://hvrd.art/o/165423

Physical Descriptions

Medium: Fritware with design carved and incised through black (chromium) slip under turquoise (copper) transparent alkali glaze
Technique: Underglazed, painted
Dimensions: 5.9 x 11.2 cm (2 5/16 x 4 7/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History: Stanford and Norma Jean Calderwood, Belmont, MA (by 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: 2002.50.86
Division: Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact: am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description: This small bowl imitates so-called silhouette wares of the Seljuk-Atabeg period (twelfth to thirteenth century), on which black slip was applied directly to the white ceramic body and the pattern carved or incised through the slip before the vessel was covered in glaze (turquoise, as here, or colorless). Original bowls of this shape were purportedly used for collecting alms. Incised in cursive script on the upper part of this bowl are the words glory, good fortune, and prince; the other words in the inscription do not make sense together. On the lower body, carved lines separate the black slip into segments. The glaze has flowed heavily onto and under the foot, so that the vessel does not sit evenly.

Published Catalogue Text: In Harmony: The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art , written 2013
138

Alms bowl
Probably Iran, modern period [1]
Fritware with design carved and incised through black (chromium) slip under turquoise (copper) transparent alkali glaze
5.9 × 11.2 cm (2 5/16 × 4 7/16 in.)
2002.50.86

Published: McWilliams 2003, 237–40, fig. 18.

This small bowl imitates so-called silhouette wares of the Seljuk-Atabeg period (twelfth to thirteenth century), on which black slip was applied directly to the white ceramic body and the pattern carved or incised through the slip before the vessel was covered in glaze (turquoise, as here, or colorless). Original bowls of this shape were purportedly used for collecting alms.[2]

Incised in cursive script on the upper part of this bowl are the words ʿizz (glory), iqbāl (good fortune), and mihtar (prince); the other words in the inscription do not make sense together.[3] On the lower body, carved lines separate the black slip into segments. The glaze has flowed heavily onto and under the foot, so that the vessel does not sit evenly.

Ayşin Yoltar-Yıldırım

[1] The bowl was last fired less than 350 years ago, according to the results of thermoluminescence analysis carried out by Oxford Authentication Ltd. in 2012. Dating analysis for fritware is complicated, because it is low fired and contains little natural radioactivity.
[2] See McWilliams 2003, 239, for the use of the term “alms bowl” as proposed by A. U. Pope.
[3] We are grateful to Wheeler M. Thackston for this reading and transliteration.

Publication History

Mary McWilliams, ed., In Harmony: The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2013), pp. 266-267, cat. 138, 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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2002.50.86: Alms Bowl