Publication Date
599-600 AH / 1203-4 AD
Publication Place
-
Saint Louis Art Museum
Subject
Shiny glazed porcelain
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
الارتفاع : 27.3 سم ، قطر الفم : 7.3 سم ، العرض : من المقبض للمسكبة : 12.7 سم ، قطر الجسم : 14 سم ، قطر القاعدة : 12.1 سم
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Library Asset ID
65:1954
Record ID
object;EPM;us;Mus24;4;ar
Library Location
Saint Louis Art Museum
Date
599-600 AH / 1203-4 AD
Notes
The piece is a brown and white lustrous painted earthenware jug with a cylindrical body which bulges slightly as it rises towards the shoulder, the shoulder is rounded and a flat handle, neck and pourer extend from it. The handle extends up from the shoulder and rotates at a 45 degree angle to connect to the neck just below the frame. The neck is funnel-shaped with an inverted frame, and there is a shallow collar at the base of the neck just above the point of contact with the shoulder. The decoration consists of bright yellow-brown paint over an opaque white glazed background and is concentrated in two areas of the jug: the lower part of the body and the upper part, which includes the neck, shoulder, handle and pourer. This leaves a large central section of opaque white glass on the body which has a single engraved line added with yellow-brown opalescent paint. The inscription is a four-line poem in the Persian language that says the following: I have conveyed your love to my dialect (the depths of my soul/psyche) / and I have lived through its smallest details / until I have conquered the whole world / in order to convey your love to the world / and this is attributed to the writer Abu Zayd, who wrote his own text in the year six hundred. In the lower area there is a second inscription written in colloquial form, in large kufi script, on a bright yellow-brown background with small, precise scrolls. And spiral lines. This inscription mainly repeats the word (Glory) with one or two examples: (State/Good Luck) and (Safety). The decoration of the upper area includes three parts. The lower part contains a series of quails with their feet on the ground and their wings flapping in the middle. They are painted with bright paint against a background of light rolled leaves. The middle section contains a hunting scene from right to left, in which a leopard is placed at the far left of the handle and represents a series of gazelles that fill the rest of the section on both sides of the mouthpiece. The cheetah is depicted wearing a collar with a ring, which indicates that it is a trained cheetah and not a wild one. The animals are drawn in the margins against a background of finely swirled, bright paint. The upper part of the shoulder contains another Kufi inscription, perhaps the phrase (Eternal Glory), written in a bright manner and firmly attached around the base of the neck. The neck is painted with a small chain pattern and the outside of the frame is painted with a thick, shiny paint, while inside it contains a design close to the Kufi. Finally, the outer part facing the end of both the handle and the pourer appears to have been painted with images of palmettes in an ascending manner. There are many hairline/fine cracks throughout the bowl, the bowl, the handle and the frame, all of which have been restored. Partially. The central band in the line and the velli is a marked area of blurred and discontinuous glazing.
Sample Text
“A jug designed with animals and patterns” within Discover the collections of Islamic art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;us;Mus24;4;ar
