This charming and seemingly bucolic scene reflects the new world order following the devastating Mongol invasions of Central and Western Asia in the first half of the thirteenth century. The figure at right, seated in a relaxed manner with one leg bent, is identifiable by his distinctive hat and robe as a member of the branch of the Mongol dynasty that ruled Iran until the mid-fourteenth century. Kneeling before the Mongol lord, with hands outstretched as though gesturing in conversation, the second figure, clothed in a different type of robe and wearing a turban, represents one of the conquered peoples of Iran. A significant impact of the Mongol invasions and the so-called Pax Mongolica was that they helped infuse and energize Iranian art with novel forms, meanings, and motifs, which are reflected, for instance, in the Lehman bowl in terms of its color scheme, and floral and figural ornament, as well as the manner in which the decoration is organized.(1) The bowl belongs to a general category of ceramics known as Sultanabad ware, after the western Iranian city where many of the objects were found. As is common for certain Sultanabad wares, the painting is applied directly on the white body and is covered by a transparent glaze. Details such as the facial features and the patterning of the garments are indicated in green-black, which gives the drawing its typical grisaille effect; some of the leaves and other foliage are washed-in with cobalt blue or transparent turquoise. Compositions depicting Mongol and Persian ethnic types or Mongols alone are common among this class of ware, while the background filled with soft-looking, large-leafed foliage is also a characteristic feature, as is the compartmentalization of the decoration.(2) The Lehman bowl has undergone extensive restoration; however, the central section, which includes the figural composition, appears original, as does one of the repetitive segments of the wall of the vessel, so that in its present state the object seems to represent a fairly accurate reconstruction.(3)
Catalogue entry from Linda Komaroff. The Robert Collection. Decorative Arts, Volume XV. Wolfram Koeppe, et al. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in association with Princeton University Press, 2012, pp. 359-360.
NOTES: 1. See Lane, Arthur. Later Islamic Pottery: Persia, Syria, Egypt, Turkey. Faber Monographs on Pottery and Porcelain. London, 1957. [2nd ed., revised by Ralph Pinder-Wilson. London, 1971.], pp. 3 – 10, where it is proposed that textiles imported from China, along with Chinese celadon and porcelain, influenced the development of fourteenth-century Persian pottery. On this topic, see also Linda Komaroff, “The Transmission and Dissemination of a New Visual Language.” In The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia, 1256 – 1353, edited by Linda Komaroff and Stefano Carboni, pp. 168 – 95. Exhibition, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 5 November 2002 – 16 February 2003; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 13 April – 27 July 2003. Catalogue edited by Linda Komaroff and Stefano Carboni, 2002, pp. 168 – 86. 2. For a nearly identical bowl formerly on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, from the dealer Dikran Kelekian, see Reitlinger, Gerald. “Sultanabad: Classification and Chronology.”Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society 20, 1944 - 45, pl. 12b. See also Lane, pl. 2a; Grube, Ernst J. Islamic Pottery of the Eighth to the Fifteenth Century in the Keir Collection. London, 1976, nos. 205, 207. 3. This determination is based upon X-raying and analysis under ultraviolet light conducted in the Objects Conservation department, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in April 1986.
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The Robert Lehman Collection is one of the most distinguished privately assembled art collections in the United States. Robert Lehman's bequest to The Met is a remarkable example of twentieth-century American collecting.
