Vessels20th century

Dish with Horseman and Arabesque

20th century

Description

The off-white slip that covers this dish has been incised with a complicated design further elaborated in green, yellow, and purplish brown. An equestrian image fills the center of the dish: a crowned horseman wears a garment decorated with vertical stripes and an overlying arabesque, and his yellow horse is embellished with scribbled lines. A vigorous arabesque fills the background behind horse and rider. Running along the rim is an angular guilloche enclosing crosshatched segments of alternating yellow and green. Except for the base, the dish is entirely covered with a white slip and a clear glaze. It has been reassembled from eight fragments, with no significant losses. The horseman steals a glance backward—as did the potter who made this dish. Although dated to the twentieth century by thermoluminescence testing, the dish imitates a type of sgraffito vessels traditionally known as Aghkand wares, which are said to have been found at Aghkand, in northwestern Iran, and usually assigned to the twelfth century.

Classification

Vessels

Technique

Underglazed, painted

Medium

Reddish earthenware covered in white slip, carved, and painted with green (copper), yellow (iron), and dark brown (manganese) under clear lead glaze (with zinc and barium)

Century

20th century

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Department

Department of Islamic & Later Indian Art

Dimensions

4.4 x 28 cm (1 3/4 x 11 in.)

Provenance

[Mansour Gallery, London, 1975], sold; to Stanford and Norma Jean Calderwood, Belmont, MA (1975-2002), gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2002.

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