Bowl

Object Details

• Description

  A concave earthenware bowl with round rim, decorated on the interior with four stylized split palmettes painted in cobalt-blue, the ends with three oval-shaped motifs painted in bluish-green, the center with boxed lines of Kufic calligraphy painted in cobalt-blue with a tin glaze. The rim with an alternating band of spaced half moon-shaped motifs painted in cobalt-blue and bluish green, the whole painted against a creamy white ground.

• Inscriptions

  1. (Massumeh Farhad, 28 February 2000) The inscription, written in cobalt in a compact kufic script, consists of three lines stacked in the center and can be read as "sa 'da/sahibihu/..." ("blessings to its owner,..."). Four windswept palmettes surround the inscription, while eight alternating cobalt and copper lobes adorn the rim.

• Provenance

  1950s

  Cohen collection, Paris, 1950s [1]

  From 1995 to 2000

  Momtaz Islamic Art, London, from 1995 [2]

  From 2000

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Momtaz Islamic Art in 2000

  Notes:

  [1] According to Curatorial Note 4, Massumeh Farhad, February 28, 2000, in the object record.

  [2] See note 1.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Iraq and China: Ceramics, Trade, and Innovation (December 4, 2004 to July 17, 2005)

  Arts of the Islamic World (May 3, 1998 to January 3, 2016)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Momtaz Islamic Art

• Origin

  Iraq

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  900s, 800s, 700s, 1100s, 1200s, 1000s

• Name

  Momtaz Islamic Art

• Topic

  Kufic script, Art, Pottery, Arts of the Islamic World, Ceramics

• Culture

  Muslims, Abbasids, Iraqis

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)