Ewer with a Cock-Shaped Spout

8th–early 9th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 451
An almost identical ewer was unearthed near the site where the last Umayyad caliph, Marwan II, was assassinated at Abu Sir in Egypt. Ewers of this type may have been produced in Syria for the Umayyad and early Abbasid caliphs. The pierced decorations follow Byzantine prototypes. The spout, in the shape of a three‑dimensional crowing cock with ruffled wings, is rendered with great realism.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Ewer with a Cock-Shaped Spout
  • Date: 8th–early 9th century
  • Geography: Attributed to Syria
  • Medium: Bronze; cast and pierced
  • Dimensions: H. 15 1/2 in. (39.4 cm)
    W. 9 1/2 in. (24.1 cm)
    D. 7 5/8 in. (19.4 cm)
    Wt.
  • Classification: Metal
  • Credit Line: Samuel D. Lee Fund, 1941
  • Object Number: 41.65
  • Curatorial Department: Islamic Art

Audio

Cover Image for 6680. Ewer with a Cock-Shaped Spout

6680. Ewer with a Cock-Shaped Spout

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STEFAN HEIDEMANN: My name is Stefan Heidemann. I'm a curator at the Islamic Department here at the Metropolitan Museum. When you look at the ewer… it doesn't look Islamic at all. It has features which combine the Iranian influence and the Mediterranean influence. On the one hand, the shape of the bottle is quite similar to Byzantine glass bottles. And… we find that these kind of roosters is a very popular scene in art in the Mediterranean, in the Byzantine world, and in the early Islamic world. The pomegranate is a very common motif in Eastern Iranian art, and we find it here at the descent of the handle.

NARRATOR: Make sure to take a glimpse at the wonderfully detailed handle. Also notice the openwork decoration at the top of the bottleneck. It resembles a palm tree, with some abstract elements intertwined. This same kind of ornament appears on a number of early Islamic objects.

STEFAN HEIDEMANN: So what makes it Islamic is that the boundaries between the Eastern world, the Iranian world and the Western, the Mediterranean, Byzantine world are just broken and combined and merged into a new form, which is the Islamic art.

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