Publication Date
Second half of the 4th century - first half of the 5th century AH/10th century and 11th century AD
Publication Place
-
Museum of Islamic Arts; Raqqada; Kairouan
Subject
Enamelled pottery.
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
الارتفاع: 11 سم، القطر: 31 سم
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Library Asset ID
C 19
Record ID
object;ISL;tn;Mus01;22;ar
Library Location
Museum of Islamic Arts; Raqqada; Kairouan
Date
Second half of the 4th century - first half of the 5th century AH/10th century and 11th century AD
Notes
A cup with a ring-shaped stem. Its inner surface is smooth, while its outer surface is decorated with ribbed decoration. The glaze is applied directly to the unglazed gray porcelain. The shape and manufacturing technique that we find here characterize African (Tunisian) ceramics dating back to the First Middle Ages. The surface of the cup is decorated with a war scene representing knights on galloping horses, shaking a terrace with their left arms. These abstract yet unconventional decorations, which have their origins in Mesopotamia, were very popular during the Fatimid era. Although there is an affinity with some contemporary oriental motifs, it is also possible that they have their roots in a very distant African past. In fact, the horses represented on the cup appear less naturalistic and more abstract than those represented on some of the art pieces made in Mesopotamia. Meanwhile, its flexibility and the decorations that characterize it, which are present on other contemporary African (Tunisian) vessels, in addition to the fact that the faces of the knights are characterized by the presence of one eye excessively larger than the other, are the common denominator of all those living African (Tunisian) pictorial representations dating back to this period, which seem to emphasize the African basis of the decoration of this cup.
Sample Text
Mourad Rammah “Cup decorated with figures” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;tn;Mus01;22;ar