Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

The Metropolitan Museum of Art


    • Footed bowl (tazza), mid-13th century
    Syria
    Yellowish colorless glass, molded, optic blown, applied (foot), enameled, and gilded; tooled on the pontil; blue, red, white, green, yellow, and black enamels; and gold

    H. 7 1/4 in. (18.3 cm), Diam. 25 in. (63.6 cm)
    Inscription (in naskhi script), apparently reading: "[His/Her] face is like the brilliant shining moon, / the posture like a tender blooming sprout."
    Edward C. Moore Collection, Bequest of Edward C. Moore, 1891 (91.1.1538)

    This splendid footed bowl, now missing its lid, is elaborately decorated with a variety of human and animal figures, calligraphy, and geometric and pseudo-vegetal patterns. The poetic inscription and the medallion bearing an eagle, repeated four times on the body, do not help link this luxury object to a particular sultan or emir.

    Related


    This work has been published in the Museum's Bulletin or Journal. These articles may or may not represent the most current scholarship.
  • Jenkins, Marilyn. "Islamic Glass: A Brief History." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 44, no. 2 (Autumn, 1986).
    JSTOR | PDF | Supplemental PDFs
    • "Director's Note" PDF
    • "Introduction" PDF
  • Gómez-Moreno, Carmen,and Thomas Hoving. "Gold." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 31, no. 2 (Winter, 1972–73).
    JSTOR | PDF
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  • Footed bowl (tazza), mid-13th century
    Syria
    Yellowish colorless glass, molded, optic blown, applied (foot), enameled, and gilded; tooled on the pontil; blue, red, white, green, yellow, and black enamels; and gold

    H. 7 1/4 in. (18.3 cm), Diam. 25 in. (63.6 cm)
    Inscription (in naskhi script), apparently reading: "[His/Her] face is like the brilliant shining moon, / the posture like a tender blooming sprout."
    Edward C. Moore Collection, Bequest of Edward C. Moore, 1891 (91.1.1538)