Bowl with Falconer

Period Seljuq Period (1037 - 1194)

Place of OriginProbably Kashan, Iran

Datelate 12th-early 13th century

DimensionsHeight: 3 1/2 in. (8.9 cm)
Rim: 8 1/4 in. (21 cm)
Base (Diameter): 3 1/8 in. (7.9 cm)

MediumStonepaste, opaque white glaze, polychrome in-glaze and overglaze painting (Mina’i ware)

ClassificationCeramics

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1941.12

Not on View

DescriptionA flaring bowl with a straight foot. Inside, a mounted falconer in a roundel in the bottom, surrounded by twelve seated figures in a pale blue band. Outside plain except for a naskhi inscription. Touches of gold.

Label TextNamed for the Persian word for enamel, Mina’i ware features brightly colored designs painted with enamel (colored glass pigments), which are fixed by multiple firings in the kiln. These ceramics are sometime called “haft rang,” the Persian term for “seven colors” because of their large color palette. The use of opaque, white glaze evokes Chinese porcelain. Mina’i ware often displays courtly pastimes, including feasting, music, poetry, and hunting. This bowl depicts twelve seated figures surrounding a falconer on horseback.Exhibition History

London, Royal Academy, International Exhibition of Persian Art, 1931, no. 196 M.

Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Persian Art Before and After the Mongol Conquest, 1959, no. 87, repr. p. 63, fig. 87.