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 MoreTerracotta, black ware
3rd millennium BCEAnatolianCarved rhinoceros horn
17th centuryChineseTerracotta
GreekSancai ("three-color") ware: white earthenware with lead-fluxed cobalt-blue, emerald-green and caramel-brown glazes over stamped decoration on the interior and lead-fluxed caramel glaze on the exterior. Probably from kilns at Luoyang or Gongxian, Henan province.
8th centuryChineseJade
17th centuryIndianEarthenware
10th-13th centuryPersianGreenish yellow nephrite with localized brown markings
18th-19th centuryChineseAlabaster
3rd millennium BCEEgyptianNorthern black ware of Cizhou type: light gray stoneware with black glaze, the decoration painted in overglaze iron-brown slip
12th-13th centuryChineseVincennes porcelain
18th centuryFrenchHard-paste porcelain with polychrome enamel decoration, gilding, and metal mounts.
18th centuryGermanPlaster