Rooster-Headed Ewer8th century

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Ceramic ewer with a rounded turquoise-teal glazed body, strap handle, and applied relief decoration at the neck, showing surface wear and chips

Ceramic bottle with globular body and narrow neck, covered in vivid turquoise glaze with areas of darker pooling; neck topped with molded foliate and scrolling relief decoration surrounding a small circular opening.

Ceramic ewer with globular body and turquoise glaze, featuring a single handle and applied figural decoration at the neck with loop and chain elements; surface shows age-related losses and crazing.

Ceramic ewer with globular body and single handle, covered in turquoise glaze with areas of wear and iridescence. The neck features applied decorative loops and a zoomorphic spout at the top.

Title: Rooster-Headed Ewer
Place Made: Probably Iran
Date Made: 8th century
Medium: Earthenware, underglaze-painted
Dimensions: Height: 12 × 7 1/2 × 7 1/2 in. (30.48 × 19.05 × 19.05 cm)
Credit Line: The Madina Collection of Islamic Art, gift of Camilla Chandler Frost
Accession Number: M.2002.1.308
Classification: Ceramics
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Islamic
Curatorial Notes: Part of the genius of Islamic potters was their ability to transform simple utilitarian objects into spectacular ones, as is the case with this striking blue-green glazed ewer. The vessel is meant to evoke a rooster; elements applied at the pinched spout suggest the bird’s comb, while the loops along the neck become its wattle. The latter devices are also typically found on metal ewers, where, when shaken, they would create a jingling sound, perhaps to signal for a refill. In the ceramic version, however, they are purely decorative. A related type of glazed ceramic ewer with a more distinctively articulated rooster head, which was well known in Iran in the late twelfth to early thirteenth century, is specifically associated with wine. As with most zoomorphic-headed vessels, to pour a beverage from the creature’s mouth would likely induce good cheer to accompany the intoxicating power of the wine.

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.

Rooster-Headed Ewer8th century

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Title: Rooster-Headed Ewer
Place Made: Probably Iran
Date Made: 8th century
Medium: Earthenware, underglaze-painted
Dimensions: Height: 12 × 7 1/2 × 7 1/2 in. (30.48 × 19.05 × 19.05 cm)
Credit Line: The Madina Collection of Islamic Art, gift of Camilla Chandler Frost
Accession Number: M.2002.1.308
Classification: Ceramics
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Islamic
Curatorial Notes: Part of the genius of Islamic potters was their ability to transform simple utilitarian objects into spectacular ones, as is the case with this striking blue-green glazed ewer. The vessel is meant to evoke a rooster; elements applied at the pinched spout suggest the bird’s comb, while the loops along the neck become its wattle. The latter devices are also typically found on metal ewers, where, when shaken, they would create a jingling sound, perhaps to signal for a refill. In the ceramic version, however, they are purely decorative. A related type of glazed ceramic ewer with a more distinctively articulated rooster head, which was well known in Iran in the late twelfth to early thirteenth century, is specifically associated with wine. As with most zoomorphic-headed vessels, to pour a beverage from the creature’s mouth would likely induce good cheer to accompany the intoxicating power of the wine.

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.