Name of Object:

Bowl

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 33.39

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Stone-paste (fritware), painted, black decoration under a transparent green glaze.

Dimensions:

Height 11.4 cm, diameter (of rim) 20.9 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Ayyubid

Provenance:

Raqqa, Syria.

Description:

A shallow, stone-paste (fritware) footed bowl with a flat top rim: it is decorated with six rectangular rotating bands with heavy black outlines, which form a hexagon in the centre; the rim is decorated with pseudo-Arabic in kufic script. Organic decoration fills the background between the bands and in the centre of the hexagon.

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. The pottery ceased production when the Mongols razed the city to the ground in AH 657 / AD 1259.

Syrian wares of this type were also found widely throughout Egypt, due to Fustat in Egypt being both a busy international port and due to the fact that Syrian potters settled in Fustat, establishing their own pottery workshops.

View Short Description

Raqqa, where this bowl was made, was one of two major pottery-production centres during the Ayyubid period in Syria. The style and decoration of this dish, and the composition of the glaze and how it has deteriorated, are typical features of Raqqa pottery.

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 "Bowl" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;uk;Mus04;11;en

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


MWNF Working Number: UK4 17