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Bowl

13th century
Not on view
This bowl combines the most distinctive features of lusterware produced in Kashan: moon-faced figures; poetry in naskhi calligraphy; and a covering of spiral marks that fill the areas between the decorative motifs. In addition, the outermost decorative band includes medallions with all twelve signs of the Zodiac. Capricorn (al-jady, "the kid"), is depicted as a small goat in profile. Like the other Zodiac signs that are represented as animals, such as Aries and Taurus, when shown with its Planetary Lord, the personification of the planet, in this case Saturn, sits astride Capricorn.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Bowl
  • Date: 13th century
  • Geography: Attributed to Iran, Kashan
  • Medium: Stonepaste; overglaze luster-painted on an opaque white glaze
  • Dimensions: H. 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm)
    Diam. 8 1/16 in. (20.5 cm)
  • Classification: Ceramics
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Edward C. Moore Jr. Gift, 1927
  • Object Number: 27.13.9
  • Curatorial Department: Islamic Art

More Artwork

More Artwork
Pierced Jug with Harpies and Sphinxes, Stonepaste; openwork, underglaze-painted, glazed in transparent turquoise
Pierced Jug with Harpies and Sphinxes
dated 612 AH/1215–16 CE
Turquoise Bowl with Lute Player and Audience, Stonepaste; glazed (opaque monochrome), in-glaze- and overglaze-painted, gilded
Turquoise Bowl with Lute Player and Audience
late 12th–early 13th century
Tile from an Inscriptional Frieze, Stonepaste; modeled, inglaze painted in blue, luster-painted on opaque white glaze
Tile from an Inscriptional Frieze
dated 734 AH/1334 CE
Bowl with a Majlis Scene by a Pond, Abu Zayd al-Kashani Iranian, Stonepaste; glazed in opaque turquoise, polychrome in-glaze- and overglaze- painted
Bowl with a Majlis Scene by a Pond
Abu Zayd al-Kashani
dated 582 AH/1186 CE
Flask with Zodiac Medallions, Stonepaste; molded, blue-glazed, overpainted, and gilded
Flask with Zodiac Medallions
first half 14th century, with additions first half 20th century

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