Footed vessel8th century

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Small three-legged ceramic vessel with mottled green lead glaze, wide open mouth with tooth-like rim projections, and relief-carved band of frog and plant motifs around the body

Title: Footed vessel
Culture: Umayyad
Place Made: Iran, Iraq, or Syria
Date Made: 8th century
Medium: Earthenware, molded, with applied decoration, and glazed
Dimensions: Height: 3 in. (7.62 cm); Diameter: 5 1/8 in. (13.02 cm)
Credit Line: The Madina Collection of Islamic Art, gift of Camilla Chandler Frost
Accession Number: M.2002.1.134
Classification: Ceramics
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Islamic
Curatorial Notes: Monochrome green glazed wares are a hallmark of ceramics produced during the Umayyad dynasty (661−750). Prior to the Islamic era, there is little evidence of glazed ceramic tableware in Sasanian Iran; rather, the predominant materials seem to have been glass, high-tin bronze, and—for the elite—silver. Glazed ceramics have a practical advantage over unglazed wares, as glazing reduces a vessel’s porosity, making it less permeable to liquids and oils, and thus easier to clean. Beyond function, glazes also emulate the glossy appearance of glass or metal wares, from which many of the green-glazed vessels, like this tripod bowl, derive their shapes and decoration. Such wares were likely a more affordable form of tableware than their metal equivalents. Even if these goods were intended for a less affluent consumer, by adding color to a surface, glazing opened up a vast range of decorative possibilities, a feature that potters exploited and experimented with in the centuries to come.

2024
Selected Bibliography: Evans, Helen C. and Brandie Ratliff, ed. Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition, 7th-9th Century. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012.

Footed vessel8th century

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Title: Footed vessel
Culture: Umayyad
Place Made: Iran, Iraq, or Syria
Date Made: 8th century
Medium: Earthenware, molded, with applied decoration, and glazed
Dimensions: Height: 3 in. (7.62 cm); Diameter: 5 1/8 in. (13.02 cm)
Credit Line: The Madina Collection of Islamic Art, gift of Camilla Chandler Frost
Accession Number: M.2002.1.134
Classification: Ceramics
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Islamic
Curatorial Notes: Monochrome green glazed wares are a hallmark of ceramics produced during the Umayyad dynasty (661−750). Prior to the Islamic era, there is little evidence of glazed ceramic tableware in Sasanian Iran; rather, the predominant materials seem to have been glass, high-tin bronze, and—for the elite—silver. Glazed ceramics have a practical advantage over unglazed wares, as glazing reduces a vessel’s porosity, making it less permeable to liquids and oils, and thus easier to clean. Beyond function, glazes also emulate the glossy appearance of glass or metal wares, from which many of the green-glazed vessels, like this tripod bowl, derive their shapes and decoration. Such wares were likely a more affordable form of tableware than their metal equivalents. Even if these goods were intended for a less affluent consumer, by adding color to a surface, glazing opened up a vast range of decorative possibilities, a feature that potters exploited and experimented with in the centuries to come.

2024
Selected Bibliography: Evans, Helen C. and Brandie Ratliff, ed. Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition, 7th-9th Century. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012.