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Bowl with Two Facing Peacocks

second–third quarter 10th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 451
Birds were a particularly popular subject in the Abbasid period, as artists in many media transformed the creatures’ beaks and wings into increasingly abstracted designs. The symmetrical pattern of two peacocks facing each other finds iconographic precedents in examples dating from the late antique and Byzantine periods, where it often carried paradisiacal connotations. The exterior is painted with a simple pattern of circles and lines. The underside of the foot is glazed and bears an Arabic inscription. Monochrome luster examples such as this were characteristic of the "second phase" of Abbasid lusterware, which developed in centers in Iraq in the tenth century.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Bowl with Two Facing Peacocks
  • Date: second–third quarter 10th century
  • Geography: Made in Iraq, probably Basra
  • Medium: Earthenware; luster-painted on opaque white glaze
  • Dimensions: H. 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm)
    Diam. 12 1/8 in. (30.5 cm)
  • Classification: Ceramics
  • Credit Line: Fletcher Fund, 1964
  • Object Number: 64.134
  • Curatorial Department: Islamic Art

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Plate Depicting a Flowering Bush in Two-Toned Luster, Earthenware; luster-painted on opaque white glaze
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Jar with Four Lug Handles, Earthenware; painted in blue on opaque white glaze
Jar with Four Lug Handles
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