Name of Object:

Cup with foot

Location:

Lisbon, Portugal

Holding Museum:

Calouste Gulbenkian Museum

Date of Object:

Hegira end of 6th or beginning of 7th century / AD end of 12th or beginning of 13th century

Museum Inventory Number:

938

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Earthenware made using the minai or haftrang technique (seven colours) with decoration painted both under and on top of the glaze.

Dimensions:

Height 8 cm, diameter 20 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Seljuq

Provenance:

Kashan, Persia.

Description:

A cup with a foot in ivory-white depicting a court scene in the centre. A young prince is seated on a throne with a tall back on which two falcons are perched. The prince is flanked by two courtiers and at his feet are two peacocks, symbols of royalty, facing each other. Around the central motif are painted pairs of sphinxes face to face, separated by small medallions. On the inside edge of the cup is a votive inscription in kufic script and on the outside an inscription in pseudo-kufic calligraphy between arabesques.

Seljuq bowl with a court scene in the centre and facing sphinxes, separated by small medallions, painted around this central motif. The inner edge bears an inscription in kufic script, and there is a pseudo-kufic inscription surrounded by arabesques on the outside.

How date and origin were established:

By stylistic analysis methods and by comparison with pieces from the Seljuq period.

How Object was obtained:

Purchased from L.A. Raffy in Paris on 23 June 1914.

How provenance was established:

By expert examination. In correspondence relating to the sale of the object, L.A. Raffy provides a 'guarantee of the authenticity of the ceramic from Persia'.

Selected bibliography:

Islamic Art in the Calouste Gulbenkian Collection, exhibition catalogue, Abu Dhabi, 2004.
Mota, M. M., Catálogo das Louças Islâmicas, Vol. I: Louças Seljúcidas, Lisbon, 1988.
Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, 1st edition 2001, 2nd edition revised and updated 2002.

Citation of this web page:

Maria Queiroz Ribeiro "Cup with foot" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;pt;Mus01_A;21;en

Prepared by: Maria Queiroz RibeiroMaria Queiroz Ribeiro

Maria Queiroz Ribeiro é conservadora do departamento de Arte Islâmica do Museu Calouste Gulbenkian desde 1996, sendo responsável pelas secções de cerâmica, vidro e arte do livro. Tem comissariado diversas exposições: The World of Lacquer, Lisboa, 2001; Un Jardin Encantado, Arte Islámico en la Colección Calouste Gulbenkian, Madrid, 2001; Islamic Art in the Calouste Gulbenkian Collection, Abu Dhabi, 2004. Participou em colóquios internacionais no International Congress of Turkish Art, apresentando comunicações como Following the trail of Ottoman tiles in Portugal em Utrecht, 1999 e La céramique islamique dans la Collection Gulbenkian, no Musée de la Céramique de Sèvres, em 2003. É autora de Iznik Pottery of the Calouste Gulbenkian Collection, Lisboa, 1996 e co-autora de Mamluk Glass in the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisboa, 1999.
Translation by: Gilla Evans
Translation copyedited by: Monica Allen

MWNF Working Number: PT 28