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.

Related Artworks

Vessels

Economic Value Food Canister

Joseph Beuys, c. 1977-1980

Aluminum food canister, inscribed in red fiber-tip ink, stamped, fat

20th centuryGerman

Vessels

Two Handled Cup and Cover

Maker's mark WH, mullet above, pellet in annulet below, 1655-1656

Silver

17th centuryBritish

Vessels

Bowl with Seated Couple

Unknown Artist, 12th-13th century

Fritware painted with luster (copper and silver) over white lead alkali glaze opacified with tin

12th-13th century

Vessels

Cinerarium

Unknown Artist, 1st-2nd century CE

Pale blue-green glass

1st-2nd century CERoman

Vessels

SMALL CLAY VASE - TRACES OF POOR RED VARNISH.

Unknown Artist

Terracotta

Vessels

Conical Bowl

Unknown Artist, 11th-early 12th century

Northern black ware of Cizhou type: off-white stoneware with dark brown glaze

11th-12th centuryChinese

Vessels

Jar with two handles

Unknown Artist, 17th century

Ceramic

17th centuryMesopotamian

Vessels

Silver-Form Dish with Lobed Sides and Scalloped Rim

Unknown Artist, 11th-early 12th century

Ding ware: porcellaneous stoneware with ivory-hued glaze, the unglazed lip originally bound with metal. From the Ding kilns, Quyang county, Hebei province.

11th-12th centuryChinese

Vessels

Sherbet Pitcher with Detachable Lid

Unknown Artist, late 19th century - early 20th century

Earthenware, slip-covered and burnished, with decoration painted in gold and silver and stamped

19th-20th centuryOttoman

Ceramic

Ritual Food Steamer (Yan) with Bovine Decor

Unknown Artist, late Shang to early Western Zhou, 11th-mid 10th century BCE

Cast bronze; with integrally cast three-character inscription reading "Yao Zuo Yi" on the interior wall

11th-10th century BCEChinese

Vessels

Small Circular Dish with Lightly Everted Lip

Unknown Artist, Jiajing period, 1522-1566

Monochrome blue ware: porcelain with cobalt blue glaze; with incised mark reading "Da Ming Jiajing nian zhi" within an incised double circle, all beneath a cobalt-blue glaze on the base

16th centuryChinese