Carafeearly 13th century

On view:

Geffen Galleries, Earth and Water

No image

Title: Carafe
Place Made: Eastern Turkey or Northern Iraq
Date Made: early 13th century
Medium: Earthenware, molded, incised and pierced
Dimensions: Height: 9 3/4 in. (24.76 cm); Diameter: 6 1/2 in. (16.51 cm)
Credit Line: The Madina Collection of Islamic Art, gift of Camilla Chandler Frost
Accession Number: M.2002.1.111
Classification: Ceramics
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Islamic
Curatorial Notes: Unglazed earthenware is an inexpensive material and highly suitable for storing water because its porous body allows the liquid to evaporate and cool. Most ceramic finds at Islamic archaeological sites are unglazed earthenware water vessels, suggesting that they were widely used across a broad spectrum of society. Rarer examples like this elaborately decorated carafe—with its molded, pierced, and incised roundels encircling sphinxes—were probably produced for more affluent clients and may have functioned as a kind of personal water bottle.

2024
Selected 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, editor. Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; New York: DelMonico Books, 2023.

On view:

Geffen Galleries, Earth and Water

No image

Title: Carafe
Place Made: Eastern Turkey or Northern Iraq
Date Made: early 13th century
Medium: Earthenware, molded, incised and pierced
Dimensions: Height: 9 3/4 in. (24.76 cm); Diameter: 6 1/2 in. (16.51 cm)
Credit Line: The Madina Collection of Islamic Art, gift of Camilla Chandler Frost
Accession Number: M.2002.1.111
Classification: Ceramics
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Islamic
Curatorial Notes: Unglazed earthenware is an inexpensive material and highly suitable for storing water because its porous body allows the liquid to evaporate and cool. Most ceramic finds at Islamic archaeological sites are unglazed earthenware water vessels, suggesting that they were widely used across a broad spectrum of society. Rarer examples like this elaborately decorated carafe—with its molded, pierced, and incised roundels encircling sphinxes—were probably produced for more affluent clients and may have functioned as a kind of personal water bottle.

2024
Selected 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, editor. Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; New York: DelMonico Books, 2023.