Ewer with Horsemen Inscribed in Arabic with Good Wishes to its Owner

Mina'i Jug

"Mina'i," meaning "enamel" in Persian, is a modern, popular name attributed to the technique applied to a certain type of ware with overglaze-enamel painting, fired twice at a low temperature. Many enamel colors were used over a white or turquoise glaze and often gold paint was added. This technique was popular in Iran from the late twelfth to the mid-thirteenth century. It was called "haft-rangi (seven-colored)" in that period, not "Mina'i," according to a manuscript on pottery techniques written in the early fourteenth century, when this technique was already lost. Most of the designs are human figures painted in a minute style, depicting horsemen, royal figures, two lovers, and heroes from the epic stories. The main field of this jug is decorated with a procession of horsemen. There are three Kufic inscriptional bands: at the interior and the exterior of the neck and the lower part of the body. All of them are in Arabic and express good wishes to the owner of the vessel.

Tomoko Masya in [Walker et al. 1994]

Inscription: Inscribed on interior and exterior of rim and on lower exterior of body: in Arabic kufic script three bands all expressing good wishes to the owner of the vessel.

On the exterior rim in kufic script:
العز الدائم و الاقبال الزائد و النصرالغالب و البرکة و الدولة و السلامة و الکرامة؟ ...

(A.Ghouchani, 2011)

Mr. and Mrs. Isaac D. Fletcher, New York (until his d. 1917; bequeathed to MMA)

Mexico City. Colegio de San Ildefonso. "Arte Islámico del Museo Metropolitano de Arte de Nueva York," September 30, 1994–January 8, 1995, no. 49.

New York. The Hagop Kevorkian Special Exhibitions Gallery, New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Riding Across Central Asia: Images of the Mongolian Horse in Islamic Art," April 26–November 12, 2000.

Riefstahl, Rudolf M. Parish-Watson Collection of Mohammadan Potteries. New York: E. Weyhe, 1922. p. LXV, fig. 33.

Harari, Ralph, and Richard Ettinghausen. A Survey of Persian Art from Prehistoric Times to the Present, edited by Arthur Upham Pope. vol. I–VI. London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1938. vol. V, ill. p. 665 (color).

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Daniel S. Walker, Arturo Ponce Guadián, Sussan Babaie, Stefano Carboni, Aimee Froom, Marie Lukens Swietochowski, Tomoko Masuya, Annie Christine Daskalakis-Matthews, Abdallah Kahli, and Rochelle Kessler. "Colegio de San Ildefonso, Septiembre de 1994–Enero de 1995." In Arte Islámico del Museo Metropolitano de Arte de Nueva York. Mexico City: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, 1994. no. 49, pp. 142–143, ill. (b/w).

McClary, Richard P. Mina'i Ware : A Reassessment and Comprehensive Study of Iranian Polychrome Overglaze Wares through Sherds. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2024. p. 112, table 3.2.