Small Bowl with Quadruped and Inscription
10th century
Description
The Arabic word for “blessing” (baraka) is written twice below the curious four-legged beast that fills this small bowl. The slender legs of the animal and its hooves with dewclaws probably indicate that it was intended to be a deer, a creature admired for its beauty and prized by hunters as game. Its neck, head, and upper back are an early restoration, poorly painted on plaster fill.
Dimensions
5.6 x 16.2 cm (2 3/16 x 6 3/8 in.)
Provenance
[Hadji Baba Rabbi House of Antiquties, Teheran, before 1973], sold; to Stanford and Norma Jean Calderwood, Belmont, MA (by 1973-2002), gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2002.
Related Artworks
View MoreEarthenware
3rd-2nd millennium BCEChineseNorthern black ware of Cizhou type: light gray stoneware with dark brown glaze, the markings in overglaze iron oxide. Probably from the kilns at Zibo, Shandong province.
12th-13th centuryChineseReddish earthenware covered in white slip and painted with black (manganese and iron) under clear lead glaze
10th centurySilver
18th centuryBritishTerracotta
Terracotta
4th century BCEGreekKaya-type ware: gray stoneware with combed and openwork decoration and with considerable natural ash glaze. Reportedly recovered from the Tomb of the Generals in Yangji-ri, Hyŏnp'ung-myŏn, Talsŏng-gun, near Kyŏngju, North Kyŏngsang province in 1960.
6th centuryKoreanTerracotta
5th century BCEGreekTerracotta
2nd century CERomanPale blue-green glass
5th-6th centuryRomanJun ware: light gray stoneware with robin's-egg blue glaze
11th-12th centuryChinesePorcelain with decoration in underglaze cobalt blue and overglaze red and green enamels
17th centuryChinese