Cup

Cup

The decoration on this cup, obtained with a rotating wheel and other sharp tools by chipping away sections of the surface of the vessel, is typical of the glass production in Iran between the 9th and 11th centuries. Relief-cut glass decoration is usually associated with the town of Nishapur in Eastern Iran, a thriving commercial and trading center whose ruins were excavated by a team sent by the Metropolitan Museum in the 1930s and 1940s. According to the great number of relief-cut objects found there, it is possible to assume that this technique was employed by the Nishapur glassmakers, although it cannot be excluded that other workshops were active in Iran at the same time. The decoration itself, showing a row of eight highly stylized birds whose plumage is indicated by simple straight or curving cut lines, also points to figures painted on pottery excavated at Nishapur. However, the simple and almost naive figures should not distract us from the appreciation of the technical achievement of such pieces: they were usually blown in a mold in order to obtain a certain shape, their walls about 5–6 mm thick; subsequently, they were probably attached to a rotating device that allowed the glass-cutter to hold the piece firmly while he worked; the walls of the object were then cut down to obtain the requested patterns, sometimes reducing their thickness to just 1 mm without breaking the glass. In the best examples, the vessels are so light and delicate that one can hardly believe they are made of glass produced almost a thousand years ago.

Stefano Carboni in [Walker et al. 1994]

Marking: Two round labels below base:
- in blue ink 6 / 109
- in red: 15C / 63

[ E. Safani, New York, until 1972; sold 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. 64.

Jenkins-Madina, Marilyn. "Islamic Glass: A Brief History." MMA Bulletin vol. 44, no. 2 (Fall 1986). p. 26, ill. fig. 27 (b/w).

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. 64, pp. 172–73, ill. (b/w).