Name of Object:

Vessel

Location:

Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom

Holding Museum:

Burrell Collection, Glasgow Museums

 About Burrell Collection, Glasgow Museums, Glasgow

Date of Object:

Hegira 7th century / AD 13th century

Museum Inventory Number:

BC 33/37

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Stone-paste (fritware) painted and glazed.

Dimensions:

Height 12 cm, diameter 10.4 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Ayyubid

Provenance:

Raqqa, Syria.

Description:

A stone-paste (fritware) vessel with an arabesque decoration on the top half of its baluster form. Painted in black and blue under a transparent glaze; the glaze has deteriorated rather badly. The shape is similar to Iranian pottery vessels and is indicative of the close artistic relationship between Syria and Iran during this period, especially between Raqqa and Kashan as, with the exception of the mina'i wares produced in Kashan, Raqqa produced more or less the same type of ceramics. Raqqa was one of two major pottery-production centres in Ayyubid Syria, the other being Rusafah. In Raqqa there were a number of pottery workshops that produced a range of ceramics including lustre-painted, relief-moulded, and underglaze-painted vessels. Pottery production ceased when the Mongols razed the city to the ground in AH 657 / AD 1259.

View Short Description

Raqqa potters had a close artistic relationship with those of Iran during the late Abbasid period, and especially during the Ayyubid period. The shape and the style of the blue and black arabesque decoration of this vessel are similar to vessels made in the city of Kashan in Iran.

How date and origin were established:

Stylistic analysis, together with analysis of the material composition of the vessel's body which is distinctively that of Raqqa. Furthermore, the nature and extent of the deterioration of the glaze is also typical of Raqqa ceramics.

How Object was obtained:

Part of the collection given to the City of Glasgow by Sir William and Lady Burrell in 1944.

How provenance was established:

The vessel is typical of Raqqa ceramics in both its material composition and in the nature of the deterioration of the glaze.

Selected bibliography:

Fehervari, G., Ceramics of the Islamic World in the Tareq Rajab Museum, London, 2000.

Grube, E. J., Cobalt and Lustre: The First Centuries of Islamic Pottery, the Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, Vol. 9, London, 1994.

Citation of this web page:

Noorah Al-Gailani "Vessel" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;uk;Mus04;8;en

Prepared by: Noorah Al-Gailani
Copyedited by: Mandi Gomez


MWNF Working Number: UK4 14