Bowl
Amman, Jordan
Jordan Archaeological Museum
About Jordan Archaeological Museum, Amman
Hegira 8–9th century / AD 14–15th century
J.6003
Ceramic painted black and blue under a transparent glaze
Height 11.1 cm, diameter 25 cm
Mamluk
Unknown, probably Syria.
The interior of this bowl is divided by bold black and white stripes into eight panels; four large and four small. Each of the four large panels are filled with a stylised tree placed under a poly-lobed arch; the trunk, adorned with small leaves on each side of a vertical axis, and topped by a bulbous leaf, branches out into scrolled and trilobed leaves. Two of the smaller triangles contain scrolled trilobed leaves, while the other two are filled with a repeated single word, possibly a benediction, rendered in a cursive (naskhi) script. This underglaze painted bowl epitomises the rich artistic creativity of the Mamluk period.
View Short DescriptionAn underglaze painted ceramic bowl of Syrian manufacture. The interior is divided by bold black and white stripes into eight panels filled with stylised flora and architecture, as well as a repeated single word in naskhi script, possibly a benediction.
The bowl was dated by stylistic analysis and comparison to similar Syrian bowls discovered in Damascus, Raqqa and Hama, and which are now on display at Damascus National Museum and in the British Museum in London.
The bowl was purchased from an antiquities dealer in 1956, who claimed that the bowl originated in Rabba, near Karak.
The provenance of this bowl is unknown, but according to the dealer from whom it was purchased it is from Rabba, south Jordan.
ساري. صالح، الفخار الأيوبي و المملوكي في بلاد الشام 567-923 ه/1171 – 1575 م، رسالة ماجستير، الجامعة الأردنية، 1979، ص 156-157، شكل 57.
Bienkowski, P. (ed.), Treasures from an Ancient Land: The Art of Jordan, Glasgow, 1991, p.84, cat. no. 98.
Hobson, R. L., A Guide to the Islamic Pottery of the Near East, London, 1932, p.60, plate XXI, fig. 75.
Lane, A., Later Islamic Pottery: Persia, Syria, Egypt, Turkey, London, 2nd edition, 1971, p.17, plate 12.A.
La voie royale: 9000 ans d'art au royaume de Jordanie, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 1986, p.284, cat. no. 388.
Aida Naghawy "Bowl" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;jo;Mus01;26;en
Prepared by: Aida NaghawyAida Naghawy
Aida Naghawy is an archaeologist and the Director of Jordan Archaeological Museum. She studied archaeology at the University of Jordan where she gained her MA. She was affiliated to the Jordanian Department of Antiquities from 1974 as a curator of Jordan Archaeological Museum. In 1981 she became inspector of Jerash antiquities and co-ordinator of the Jerash International Rehabilitation project. She was also head of the archaeological awareness section at the Department of Antiquities. Aida is the author of numerous publications on Islamic coins. She has carried out excavation work in Jerash and is the founder of Jerash Archaeological Museum and the Islamic Museum of the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs.
Copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez
Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.
True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.
MWNF Working Number: JO 52
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