This item has been added to the Database within the Explore Islamic Art Collections project. Information is available in: English, Arabic.

Name of Object:

Bowl

Location:

Doha, Qatar

Holding Museum:

Museum of Islamic Art

About Museum of Islamic Art, Doha

Date of Object:

Hegira 3rd century / AD 9th century

Museum Inventory Number:

PO.31

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Earthenware, Pigment, Glaze; Glazing

Dimensions:

Diameter: 20.5cm

Period / Dynasty:

Abbasid

Provenance:

Iraq, Basra

Description:

From the late eighth century, Chinese porcelains were imported into the Middle East where they were traded as luxury wares. Potters in Iraq soon began to develop imitations of these highly prized porcelains, using earthenware with an opaque white glaze. The decoration on the bowl, however, is a local invention: painted in blue, an inscription is written radially and reads "made by Salih" or alternatively "what was done was worthwhile". The restrained, austere decoration provides a counterpoint to the highly decorated aesthetic often seen to typify Islamic art.

Selected bibliography:

Jodidio, Philip, Museum of Islamic Art, Doha Qatar, London: Prestel Verlag, 2008.
Seipel, Joseph H., God is Beautiful and Loves Beauty: The object in Islamic Art and Culture, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013.
Watson, Oliver, Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar, Munich: Prestel Verlag, 2008.

Citation of this web page:

 "Bowl" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;qt;Mus21;27;en

MWNF Working Number: QT 27