Bowl

Object Details

• Description

  Clay: sandy, buff-white.

  Glaze: silicious, transparent greenish-white; areas of a pearly iridescence due to decay.

  Decoration: painted in brown lustre; spots of turquoise-green; inscriptions in naskhi, partly obliterated.

• Provenance

  By 1939

  Kirkor Minassian, New York, method of acquisition unknown [1]

  From 1942

  National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, purchase from Kirkor Minassian, New York [2]

  Notes:

  [1] See object file for copy of Freer Gallery of Art examination record, indicating that the object was received at the Freer via express shipment, from Kirkor Minassian, on March 11, 1939. See also Minassian’s letter to the Freer, dated March 10, 1939, confirming the objects which of his objects are at the Freer for examination. The list includes #1721, “One Raqqa pottery plate, absolutely unbroken and unrestored,” with a handwritten notation “Rec’d by express 3/11/39.” Copy in object file.

  Kirkor Minassian (1874-1944) was a collector and dealer in Islamic art and Near Eastern antiquities, with eponymous galleries in New York and Paris. In 1929, Minassian presented a group of objects to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., including a folio in Kufic script from an 8th-century Qur’an and a collection of Sumerian clay tablets. Following his death, his wife Antoinette (1874-1961) and his daughter Adrienne (1913-1994), succeeded him in his business.

  [2] See object file for copy of Kirkor Minassian invoice to the Freer Gallery of Art, dated February 21, 1942, and approved by the Secretary of the Smithsonian July 22, 1940. This work is part of the Museum’s Freer Gallery of Art Collection.

  Research updated February 9, 2024

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  The Peacock Room Comes to America [2022] (September 3, 2022 - ongoing)

  Art of the Arab World (August 15, 1980 to May 13, 1981)

  Art of the Arab World (May 8, 1975 to August 20, 1977)

  Ceramics from the World of Islam (January 16, 1974 to July 1, 1974)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Kirkor Minassian (1874-1944)

• Origin

  Syria

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Vessel

• On View

  Freer Gallery 12: The Peacock Room Comes to America

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1100s, 1300s, 1200s

• Name

  Minassian, Kirkor

• Topic

  Art, Arts of the Islamic World, Stone-paste, Iridescence, Ceramics

• Culture

  Muslims, Ayyubids, Syrians

• Language

  Naskh script

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)

• On View

  Yes