Bowl

Bowl (broken and repaired).
Clay: soft, sandy, white.
Glaze: white tin enamel, crazed and crackled; transparent wash under the foot. Decoration: painted in polychrome enamels and leaf gold (surface of gold ground worn). Kufic inscription inside; saskhi inscription outside; both with signature.

Maker(s)
Artist: Ali ibn Yusuf (early 13th century)
Historical period(s)
Saljuq period, early 13th century
Medium
Stone-paste painted under glaze and over glaze with enamel
Dimensions
H x W: 8.7 x 20.6 cm (3 7/16 x 8 1/8 in)
Geography
Iran
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1937.5
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Bowl

Keywords
Iran, kufic script, Saljuq period (1037 - 1300)
Provenance

To 1937
Dikran G. Kelekian (1868-1951), Cairo, Egypt, Paris, France, and New York, to 1937 [1]

From 1937
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Dikran G. Kelekian, New York in 1937 [2]

Notes:

[1] Undated folder sheet note. See Freer Gallery or Art Purchase List after 1920, Collections Management Office.

[2] See note 1.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Dikran Garabed Kelekian 1868-1951

Description

Bowl (broken and repaired).
Clay: soft, sandy, white.
Glaze: white tin enamel, crazed and crackled; transparent wash under the foot. Decoration: painted in polychrome enamels and leaf gold (surface of gold ground worn). Kufic inscription inside; saskhi inscription outside; both with signature.

Inscription(s)

Inscription in cursive Arabic around outside of bowl is copied below, ---the words written brackets being those written upon the outer side of modern repairs, and therefore not authoritative and not included in the translation which follows:

[Arbc]
[ ] and prosperity....[ ] and dignity [ ] and happiness .... [ ] and peace...and dominion and majesty and [ ] and perpetuity to the possessor.
[ ] work of 'Ali bin Yusuf.

Inscription in Kufic around inside of bowl:

[Arbc]
Power eternal, prosperity superabundant and victory triumphant and favor and wisdom and good fortune, and happiness and health, nobility and [ ] and perpetuity to the possessor.
The work of [ ] bin Yusuf.

Inscription:
Interior:
[Arbc]
al-'izz al-dayim wa'-igbal al-zayid wa'l-nasr al-ghalib wa'l-farr al-gayim wa'l-dawla wa'l-sa'ada wa'l-salama wa'l-karama wa'l-'azama wa'l-baga li-sahibih 'amilahu ['Ali] bn Yusuf
"Eternal glory, ever-increasing good fortune, overwhelming victory, self-subsisting aura of glory, prosperity, happiness, good health, nobility, greatness, and long life to the owner. Made by Ali b. Yusuf."

Exterior:
al-'izz al-dayim wa'l-igbal al-zayid wa'l-nasr al-ghalib wa'l-farr al-gayim wa'l-jadd al-[sa'id] wa'l-'umr al-salim wa'l-dawla wa'l-sa'ada wa'l-salama wa'l-karama wa'l-dawla wa'l-sa'ada wa'l-salama wa'l-baga li-sahibih. das[t]kar-i 'Ali bn Yusuf.

Published References
  • Freer Gallery of Art. Gallery Book III: Exhibition of December 5, 1938. Washington. .
  • Richard Ettinghausen, Ernst Kuhnel. A Survey of Persian Art from Prehistoric Times to the Present. 6 vols., London and New York, 1938 - 1939. vol. 2: pp. 1563-1564.
  • Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections. 12 vols., Tokyo. vol. 10, pl. 280.
  • Richard Ettinghausen, Grace Dunham Guest. The Iconography of a Kashan Luster Plate. vol. 4 Washington and Ann Arbor. pp. 25-64, pl. 21, fig. 69.
  • Richard Ettinghausen. Two Signed Min'i Bowls. vol. 5, no. 1, June 1937. pp. 29-32.
  • Richard Ettinghausen. Medieval Near Eastern Ceramics in the Freer Gallery of Art. Washington and Baltimore. p. 35.
  • Dr. Esin Atil. Ceramics from the World of Islam. Exh. cat. Washington, 1973. cat. 35, pp. 82-83.
  • , Eva Baer, David Nicolle, Barbara Schmitz, Oliver Watson. The Art of the Saljuqs in Iran and Anatolia. Costa Mesa, California. p. 171.
  • Islamic Art and Archaeology: Collected Papers. Berlin. pp. 579-641.
Collection Area(s)
Arts of the Islamic World
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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