Vessels10th-11th century

Bowl with Bird and Flowers

10th-11th century

Description

The decoration on the interior of this vessel is characteristic of slip-painted wares now generally attributed to workshops in a region south of the Caspian Sea. Typically, as here, the design of these bowls is dominated by a single large, leftward-facing bird with distended belly, elaborately crested head, and two-colored, bifurcated tail. Birds and surrounding flowers are often outlined in a darker color that may be topped with tiny white dots; white dots also accent dark spots on the bird’s body. Off-white slip and green-tinged glaze completely coat the interior of this bowl. On the exterior, the slip only patchily covers the walls, and the glaze is restricted to the area around the rim. The concave base is uncoated. The bowl has been reassembled from about ten fragments, with plaster replacing losses in the lower left quadrant of the center, and it retains earlier and rather awkward overpainting of the bird’s lower belly and legs.

Classification

Vessels

Technique

Underglazed, painted

Medium

Red earthenware covered in off-white slip and painted with black (manganese and iron), green (chromium), and red (iron) under clear lead glaze

Period

Samanid period

Century

10th-11th century

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Department

Department of Islamic & Later Indian Art

Dimensions

8.7 x 23.8 cm (3 7/16 x 9 3/8 in.)

Provenance

[Mansour Gallery, London, 1971], sold; to Stanford and Norma Jean Calderwood, Belmont, MA (1971-2002), gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2002.

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