Bowl with radial design
Details
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Title
Bowl with radial design
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Associated place
Syria (place of creation) -
Date
13th century (1201 - 1300) -
Material and technique
fritware, with underglaze painting in blue and brown-black
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Material index
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Technique index
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Object type
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Dimensions
11 cm (height)
at mouth 23 cm (diameter)
21.4 cm (diameter)
at foot 7.6 cm (diameter) -
No. of items
1
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Credit line
Gift of Gerald Reitlinger, 1978.
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Museum location
Museum department
Eastern Art
Accession no.
EA1978.2196
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Handbook text
This bowl is of the truncated conical form with a tall, cylindrical foot, mentioned above (no. 22 [EA1978.2183]). The pigment used for underglaze black has here produced, presumably by accident, a deep brownish colour. As with the figural designs (no. 22 [EA1978.2183]), the Syrian potter preferred a much bolder approach to that of his Persian contemporaries.
The design on the bowl is made up of stylised and simplified leaf forms, which are paired to form a ‘bracket’ motif. These brackets are arranged in concentric circles in alternating colours, but, as with brick lays, the positions of the brackets are alternated in consecutive bands to provide visual variety and interest.
The concentric design is balanced by a radial design, painted with a much thinner brush. This radial design is made up of eight lines, with a small heart-shaped panel alternating its position – either at the end of the line or two-thirds of the way along it. The pattern is also subtly reinforced by the positioning of the blue trefoils. The result may look simple, but it provides a brilliant example of how the tensions of a circular and concave bowl shape can be reconciled and harmonised into a totally satisfying unity. Contrast the design of the bowl below [EA1978.2193], in which the centrifugal tendency has been allowed to take over, and the viewer is left completely disconcerted.In: Allan, James W., Islamic Ceramics, Ashmolean-Christie's Handbooks (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 1991)
Glossary of terms
fritware
underglaze painting
Further reading
Allan, James W., Islamic Ceramics, Ashmolean-Christie's Handbooks (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 1991), no. 25 on p. 42, illus. p. 43
Porter, Venetia, Medieval Syrian Pottery (Raqqa Ware) (Oxford: Asmolean Museum, 1981), illus. p. 18 pl. IX
Jenkins-Madina, Marilyn, Raqqa Revisited: Ceramics of Ayyubid Syria (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art and New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), W 125, p. 104
Reference URL
