Name of Object:

Bowl

Location:

London, England, United Kingdom

Holding Museum:

Victoria and Albert Museum

About Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Date of Object:

About hegira 427–87/ AD 1035–94

Artist(s) / Craftsperson(s):

Possibly, ‘Sa‘d’.

Museum Inventory Number:

C.49–1952

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Painted glazed ceramic.

Dimensions:

Height 9.8 cm, diameter 22.1 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Fatimid

Provenance:

Probably Cairo, Egypt.

Description:

A bowl on a high foot-ring, painted in lustre on a white clay slip. The interior is decorated with a bold design of a robed and hooded figure, traditionally thought to be a Coptic priest, carrying a lamp or censer. Beside him stands an object often thought to be a cypress tree, but sometimes interpreted as an ankh or ‘key of life’ cross, an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic sign which the Copts adapted for Christian use. The priest’s robe, his lamp, and the tree are all decorated with thin white lines scratched through the lustre to create spirals and other motifs. On the outside of the bowl, the word ‘Sa‘d’’ is written twice in kufic script. Oddly, the word is written in reverse, i.e. beginning with the last letter. It is unclear whether the word is a blessing (‘good luck, good fortune’) or whether it is the name of a particular craftsman or workshop. It appears on a group of similar Fatimid ceramics over a number of decades during the reign of the Caliph al-Mustansir (AH 427–87 / AD 1035–94).

A footed bowl painted in lustre with a picture of a robed and hooded figure holding a lamp or censer. He is a Coptic Christian priest, and his presence on such a fine object suggests the importance of this community in Fatimid Egypt.

How date and origin were established:

This bowl belongs to a group of objects which all have the word ‘Sa‘d’ painted on them. These have been assigned to the reign of the Fatimid Caliph al-Mustansir based on comparisons with other media such as textiles.

How Object was obtained:

In 1910 the art collector Dikran Garabed Kelekian placed his collection of Islamic ceramics on loan to the V&A. Fifteen of the finest pieces, including this bowl, were purchased by the Museum (with the assistance of the National Art Collections Fund) after Kelekian’s death.

How provenance was established:

Cairo was the Fatimid capital and thus the likeliest place that an object of such quality would have been made.

Selected bibliography:

Caiger-Smith, A., Tin-Glaze Pottery in Europe and the Islamic World, London, 1973, p.37 and plate B.

Contadini, A., Fatimid Art at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1998, p.86.

Jenkins, M. "Sa‘d: Content and Context," Content and Context of the Visual Arts in the Islamic World (ed. P. Soucek), Pennsylvania and London, 1988, pp.67–75 and fig. 6.

Soustiel, J., La céramique islamique, Fribourg, 1985, p.133 no. 148.

Stanley, T., with Rosser-Owen, M. and Vernoit, S., Palace and Mosque: Islamic Art from the Middle East, London, 2004, pp.118–22.

Citation of this web page:

Barry Wood "Bowl" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;uk;Mus02;3;en

Prepared by: Barry WoodBarry Wood

Barry Wood is Curator (Islamic Gallery Project) in the Asian Department of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He studied history of art at Johns Hopkins University and history of Islamic art and architecture at Harvard University, from where he obtained his Ph.D. in 2002. He has taught at Harvard, Eastern Mediterranean University, the School of Oriental and African Studies, and the Courtauld Institute of Art. He has also worked at the Harvard University Art Museums and the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. He has published on topics ranging from Persian manuscripts to the history of exhibitions.
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: UK2 03