Footed Bowl with painted design of birds
Iranian
Description
Subject Matter:
Among Persian ceramics decorated with incised design, there is a subgroup with a distinctive type of ornamentation made up of birds and green crosshatching. In general the engraved birds are executed with a hasty but vaguely naturalistic intent and they are silhouetted against a filler field of dark green, also applied with a certain spontaneity. The disposition of the birds on the ceramic surface varies from the more or less concentric rows to a large pair of heraldic birds covering the interior of another bowl.
Physical Description:
This footed bowl with painted designs is of 11th-13th century Iranian origin. The object stands upon a broad pierced foot, with a stem extending upwards supporting a shallow dish. It is done in brown, green and gold. The decoration consists of a number of birds compartmentalized by a gold background that serves to set off their shapes and creates a free-form design. Sgraffito cuts through the slip on glaze to a layer of brown that creates part of the form of the bird or its decoration. All of this is set against green cross-hatched areas.
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