Publication Date
Sixth-seventh/twelfth-thirteenth centuries
Publication Place
-
British Museum
Subject
Pottery decorated with relief and metallic luster.
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
الارتفاع 19 سم؛ الطول 28 سم؛ العرض 13.5 سم
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Library Asset ID
1924.12-28.1
Record ID
object;ISL;uk;Mus01;15;ar
Library Location
British Museum
Date
Sixth-seventh/twelfth-thirteenth centuries
Notes
A rectangular ottoman with four legs and two holes at the top, made of molded clay flakes, decorated with relief carvings and painted with metallic lustre. The designs on either side of the ottoman consist of pairs of griffins (a griffin is a mythical animal that is half lion and half eagle) surrounded by swirling arabesques. Metallic luster pottery was produced in the Abbasid era in Iraq before the technique appeared in Fatimid Egypt, and may have arrived with immigrant craftsmen. After the end of the Fatimid dynasty, this technique appeared in Ayyubid Syria again, most likely by migratory craftsmen, who moved to areas where they could find better patronage for their craft. The metallic luster technique was the most common among the decoration techniques on vessels produced in Raqqa in the 6th and 7th / 12th and 13th centuries in northern Syria. The original use of pieces similar to this stand is not known, although the rounded legs in some pieces of this type appear to have been modified from wooden models, which makes it likely that this piece was used as a table, and that the holes in its top were used to place bowls, drinking vessels, or oil lamps. Or inkwells.
Sample Text
Emily Shovelton "Musnad" in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;uk;Mus01;15;ar
