Name of Object:

Goblet

Location:

Raqqada, Kairouan, Tunisia

Holding Museum:

Museum of Islamic Art

About Museum of Islamic Art, Raqqada.

Date of Object:

Hegira, second half of the 4th–first half of the 5th centuries / AD 10th–11th centuries

Museum Inventory Number:

VR 015

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Engraved and decorated glass.

Dimensions:

Height 11 cm, diameter 4 cm to 6 cm, thickness of glass at rim 0.1 to 0.15 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Fatimid–Zirid

Provenance:

Sabra al-Mansuriyya or Kairouan.

Description:

A goblet in the shape of a truncated cone. The upper part is undecorated and spreads out slightly into a chalice shape. The base is concave (for stability) and retains the navel-like mark where the glass-blower's pipe broke away.
The glass is transparent, slightly smoky and has very few air-bubbles. It has an iridescent and pearly appearance. The lower part is decorated with a grid of incised lines forming two rows of seven diamond shapes and two rows of seven triangles. Topped by a double circumferential band, the upper rows are decorated with oblique tapering grooves whereas the lower rows have opposing lobes. This grid is decorated at each intersection with an ellipsoidal groove shaped like a segment of a circle. Around the base are more notches, linked to the wall of the goblet with quarter-circle shapes. This goblet is similar to some found at Fustat, Raqqa and Damascus, and to others discovered in the cargo of the wreck discovered off the Turkish coast during the Serce Limani seabed excavations. The goblet's straight profile reminds us of those drinking vessels held by the caliphs and high dignitaries shown on the Fatimid wood carvings in Cairo.

This goblet in the shape of a truncated cone has a concave base, and its slightly tinted transparent glass contains some air bubbles. The goblet is comparable to similar objects found during submarine excavations along the Turkish coast.

How date and origin were established:

Although this object is similar to articles found at Raqqa dating from the 3rd / 10th century, it was, however, discovered at the Sabra al-Mansuriyya site. This capital city of the Fatimids was founded in the mid-4th / 9th century. As for the likeness of the goblet to the above-mentioned Serce Limani wreck cargo, we know that the ship sank in the second quarter of the 5th / 11th century. Sabra was completely abandoned after the Hilalian invasions in 449 / 1057. We can therefore date this goblet with assurance between the second-half of the 4th / 10th and the beginning of the 5th / 11th centuries.

How Object was obtained:

After its discovery in 1992 this piece was kept at the Bardo Museum. It was then acquired by the Museum of Islamic Art at Raqqada, on its inauguration. It is currently on display there.

How provenance was established:

This goblet was discovered by chance in 1992 at the Sabra al-Mansuriyya site. Brick pickers broke open a large jar with a pick-axe and found contents of priceless value: carafes, goblets, flasks and cups. The shape and decoration of other similar objects found in the Sabra excavations suggest that this object was either produced at the Sabra glass-works, which were highly reputed at that time, or at those of Kairouan, the nearest economic capital.

Selected bibliography:

Marçais, G. et Poinssot, L., Objets kairouanais, XI, fasc. 2, Tunis, 1952, pp.388–9, cat. no. 8.

Citation of this web page:

Mourad Rammah "Goblet" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;tn;Mus01;41;en

Prepared by: Mourad RammahMourad Rammah

Né en 1953 à Kairouan, docteur en archéologie islamique, Mourad Rammah est le conservateur de la médina de Kairouan. Lauréat du prix Agha Khan d'architecture, il publie divers articles sur l'histoire de l'archéologie médiévale islamique en Tunisie et participe à différentes expositions sur l'architecture islamique. De 1982 à 1994, il est en charge du département de muséographie du Centre des arts et des civilisations islamiques. Mourad Rammah est également directeur du Centre des manuscrits de Kairouan.
Copyedited by: Margot Cortez
Translation by: David Ash
Translation 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: TN 64