Tankard

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Tankard

Iran, 12th or 13th century

Ceramics

Fritware, underglaze-painted

7 1/8 x 5 in. (18.10 x 12.70 cm)

The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, gift of Joan Palevsky (M.73.5.270)

Art of the Middle East: Islamic and Contemporary

Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

In addition to its fineness, fritware gave potters the newfound ability to marshal line and color with precision....

In addition to its fineness, fritware gave potters the newfound ability to marshal line and color with precision. Glazes could now be painted directly onto the pale, quartz-rich fritted clay before firing, eliminating the need to cover a vessel in a layer of white slip, an expensive first step that sometimes caused designs to run in the kiln. Though deceptively simple, the decoration of this early fritware vessel exemplifies this revolutionary advancement in ceramics technology: the restrained clusters of parallel cobalt lines along the tankard’s surface accentuate its bulging body.

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Bibliography

Lo Terrenal y lo Divino: Arte Islámico siglos VII al XIX Colección del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Ángeles. Santiago: Centro Cultural La Moneda, 2015.
Komaroff, Linda. Beauty and Identity: Islamic Art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2016.

Lo Terrenal y lo Divino: Arte Islámico siglos VII al XIX Colección del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Ángeles. Santiago: Centro Cultural La Moneda, 2015.
Komaroff, Linda. Beauty and Identity: Islamic Art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2016.
Pal, Pratapaditya, ed. Islamic Art: The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection. Los Angeles: Museum Associates, 1973.

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