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Maker/s

Unknown (potter)

Collection

Frank Brangwyn Collection

Category

glazed earthenware
Islamic pottery (sub-category)lustreware (sub-category)

Name

bowl

School/Style

Abbasid

Description

earthenware with a white glaze painted with lustre

pinkish buff earthenware, wheel thrown, coated in a white glaze painted with a yellow lustre. Shape: conical bowl with slightly out-turned rim sitting on a low foot ring. Interior: on the rim crescents and dots are painted above Arabic inscriptions on the bottom left and right hand edge. Dominating the bowl a stylised peacock is painted with bi-partite plumage on the head and ‘eyes’ covering the body and a section of the tail. Exterior: concentric circles are painted, with the inner circle containing wavey lines painted on a background of dotted lines.

Production Place

Iraq (potter) (country) ()

Technique Description

pinkish buff earthenware, wheel thrown, coated in a white glaze painted with a yellow lustre

Dimensions

height: (whole): 4.2 cm
width: (whole): 12.3 cm
diameter: (rim): 12.3 cm
diameter: (base): 4.4 cm
weight: (whole): 108 g

Period

10th Century

Date

circa 900 to 999

Provenance

bought: Brangwyn, Frank 1905-04-18 (Filtered for: Applied Arts collection)

Frank Brangwyn RA, from whom purchased

Purchased with the Glaisher Fund

Inscriptions/Marks

1. inscription
   Position: upper body (inner surface)
   Method: painted in lustre
   Content:
   Description: three Arabic inscriptions
   Interpretation:
   Language: Arabic
   
2. label
   Position: base exterior (underside of foot ring)
   Method: printed, typed, hand written (pencil and ink)
   Content: 'Lent By/No' (printed); 'Brangwyn' (typed), '297' and '22' (hand written with latter crossed through)
   Description: rectangular paper label with serrated upper edge
   Interpretation: Possibly Victoria and Albert Museum label
   Language: English
   

Documentation

1. Pope, A.U. (1938) Survey of Persian Art from Prehistoric Times to the Present, Oxford: Oxford University Press
   [comments: Plate 575B]
2. Hetjens Museum (1973) Islamische Keramik, Dusseldorf [page: 84-5]
   [comments: Cf. peacock design on catalogue number 103]
3. Mason, Robert, B. (2004) Shine Like the Sun: Lustre-Painted and Associated Pottery from the Medieval Middle East, California: Maznda Publications [page: 23-59]
   [comments: Cf. similar vessel shape see BEN.01 (figure 3.8). Cf. BL.F dot line motif except wavey lines instead of ‘V’ shapes and BL.17 “running-crescent” (figure 3.9). Ref. on Abbasid Iraqi ceramics]
4. Watson, Oliver (2004) Ceramics from Islamic Lands, London: Thames & Hudson [page: 182-197]
   [comments: Cf. Peacock motif on lustre and similar exterior pattern see catalogue number ‘Cat E.15’. Ref. on Abbasid lustre]
5. Auld, S (2005) Birds and Blessings: A Khol-pot from Jerusalem, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press [page: 1-22]
   Source title: The Iconography of Islamic Art (
   [comments: Ref. on iconography of peacock designs]
6. Pancaroğlu, O (2007) Perpetual Glory Medieval Islamic Ceramics from the Harvey B. Plotnick Collection, Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago [page: 44-57]
   [comments: Cf. Peacock motif on lustre and similar exterior pattern see catalogue number 9 (p. 49). Ref. on Abbasid lustre]

Other Notes

Accession Number

C.66-1935 (Applied Arts)
(Reference Number: 75770; Input Date: 2004-03-11 / Last Edit: 2011-07-22)