Images(3)

bowl

Object NameBowl

Made FromGlass

Date800-999

TechniqueProbably slumped over a mold, slant-cut

SizeOverall H: 7.6 cm, Diam (max): 17.8 cm

Accession Number55.1.136

Curatorial Area(s)

Ancient

Exhibitions

Glass from the Ancient World

Beauty and Belief: Crossing Bridges with the Arts of Islamic Culture

Glass of the Sultans

Interpretive Notes

Web Text

Many early Islamic wheel-cut objects were decorated in a style that was also used to carve stucco, stone, and wood at Samarra in the ninth century. This style, which used to be called “beveled,” is now known as “slant-cut.” The surface was cut and ground so that, in cross section, it looks like a check mark. This afforded the ornament a raised appearance. Fragments of slant-cut glass, dated to the ninth or 10th century, have been found at Samarra. This bowl displays a combination of relief and slant cutting. The two principal motifs - a standing bird with a small head and an elongated body, and a tree of life - appear four times. Presumably the bowl was fashioned from a glass disk that was sagged over a mold, then cut, ground, and polished.

Place Made

Western Asia; perhaps Iran

Physical DescriptionTranslucent deep green; few spherical bubbles. Probably slumped over mold; probably slant-cut. Bowl: hemispherical, with eight lobes. Rim has flat top and beveled inner surface formed by grinding; wall curves down and in, and has on inside, at junctions of lobes, sharp cusps that extend from rim to center of floor; base is slightly convex, with solid foot-ring; no pontil mark. Wall is decorated on outside with slant-cut ornament consisting of two alternating motifs, each repeated four times: (1) standing bird, facing left, with curved beak, small head, elongated body, tiny wing, and pointed tail; its neck is embellished with band of horizontal cuts, and wing and tail have transverse parallel cuts; and (2) tree of life, with trunk divided at top into two scrolling half-palmettes, and at midpoint into inverted palmette flanked by long, curving leaves.
Provenance

Provenance Remark

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