Publication Date
Late ninth century - beginning of the tenth century AH / late fifteenth century - beginning of the sixteenth century AD
Publication Place
-
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Subject
Pottery paste, painted under glaze
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
277: الارتفاع : 50.5 سم، القطر : 42.4 سم ، 287 : الارتفاع : 48.9 سم ، القطر : 41.8 سم
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Library Asset ID
M.2002.1.277-278
Record ID
object;EPM;us;Mus21;36;ar
Library Location
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Date
Late ninth century - beginning of the tenth century AH / late fifteenth century - beginning of the sixteenth century AD
Notes
This pair of ceramic jars/jugs reflects some of the many changes that have taken place in the field of Islamic art history and may also help expand our understanding of modern art. Both jars bear marks indicating that they were loaned to the first major exhibition of Islamic art held in Munich in 1910. They are now more than a hundred years old but have become even older during that time. They were attributed to Turkestan in the eighteenth century in Kataluk in 1910, and these two jars are now attributed to the late Timurid era on the basis of historical, scientific and archaeological evidence. Determining their possible place of manufacture is perhaps even more problematic. The site of Otrar and also neighboring sites of medieval settlement began to attract attention even before the first archaeological excavations began in 1904. It is therefore possible that the 1910 attribution to a pair of Turkmen jars (in the first half of the twentieth century often used as a general identification of the region of western Central Asia) could be some clue, perhaps by Kirkor Minasyan, a well-known merchant who lent the jars in 1910 (whose name and address in Paris are still preserved on one of the two jars in the exhibition), which he obtained from some secret prospectors active in the region. On the other hand, there is some evidence linking Jartin to the northwestern tip of the Iranian world – to Kopachi or another place in Dagestan. The Museum of Orientals in Moscow has a collection of ceramic vessels with matching decoration and color scheme such as the turquoise glazed jar (no museum numbers available) that were discovered in the Dagestan region. In addition, the State Museum in St. Petersburg has a number of ceramic vessels showing the same color schemes and associated decoration that, according to museum records, were acquired from Kobachi citizens in the early decades of the twentieth century. One of them (VG-1611) is identical in shape and size to the Los Angeles urns, although its decoration is more coarse. The pair of urns now gives a better understanding of late Timurid ceramics and their decoration lies either at the far east or west of the Iranian world. It also enhances our appreciation of Orientalist systems in the work of Henri Matisse (1869-1954), who visited Munich in October 1910 and whose express goal was to see the great exhibition of Islamic art. It is easy to imagine that he too could have retained a visual memory of pieces such as these ceramic jars, whose colorful floral decoration echoes the diversity of the artwork.
Sample Text
"A pair of jars/jugs" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;us;Mus21;36;ar
