- Title
- Bowl
- Culture
- Syria or Egypt, Mamluk
- Date Made
- 15th century
- Medium
- Fritware, underglaze-painted
- Dimensions
- Diameter: 10 1/4 in. (26.035 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2002.1.65
- Collecting Area
- Art of the Middle East: Islamic
- Curatorial Notes
This is one of three nearly identical bowls in LACMA’s collection, something of a rarity in Islamic ceramics, indicating that they were made in the same potter’s workshop and suggesting that they may have been intended as part of a matched set (see M.2002.1.52 and M.2002.1.67). They were likely produced under the Mamluk dynasty, which ruled Egypt and Syria from 1250 to 1517. Their blue and white color scheme and scrolling leaf and floral designs are typical of late Mamluk ceramics, both tableware and architectural revetment (see M.2002.1.50).
As elsewhere in historical Islamic lands, the Mamluk elite were served from gold and silver vessels and especially imported Chinese porcelain, while the upper and middle classes dined from brass and tinned copperwares and glazed ceramics. A set of matched bowls would have been appropriate for the household of a member of one of the latter categories. It is also conceivable that such coordinated vessels may have been used as supplementary tableware as at the large and elaborate banquets hosted by the Mamluk sultans for which vast quantities of leftovers were allotted to the common people, according to textual accounts. Deep bowls of this type would be particularly suitable for serving the meaty stews and broths favored by the Mamluks.
- Selected Bibliography
- Atil, Esin. Renaissance of Islam: Art of the Mamluks. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981.
- Copyright
- photo © Museum Associates/LACMA, by Jonathan J. Urban
