Bowl with Concentric Bands of Inscriptions, Palmettes, and Braided Strapwork
10th-11th century
Description
An accurate assessment of the state of this bowl, “damaged but all original,” appears in a note in Calderwood’s handwriting pasted inside the foot ring. On the exterior, the bowl has lost much of its glaze and slip-painted decoration. Most of the present interior decoration is overpainting, but the remaining original surfaces provide evidence that the restorer has reconstructed the design with reasonable accuracy. The outermost inscription, in red, could be read as al-yumn (felicity). At the center, a band of braided strapwork encircles an elaborate composite motif of a diamond-shaped flower with four coiling arms that terminate in red disks and black trefoils. The reddish ceramic fabric was originally covered in a whitish slip and decorated in red, purplish black, and olive green. Straight, flaring walls rise from a low foot ring, which is covered in slip but unglazed.
Dimensions
11.7 x 34.4 cm (4 5/8 x 13 9/16 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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