Dish with Two Birds

Place of OriginSyria

Date12th century

Dimensions2 1/8 × 11 1/8 × 6 7/8 in. (5.4 × 28.3 × 17.5 cm)

Mediumglazed earthenware with enamel

ClassificationCeramics

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

Object number

1941.24

Not on View

DescriptionStonepaste, carved, polychrome colors in transparent glaze. A wide dish with two birds floating amid arabesques. This technique (called Laqabi ware) attempts to stop color running under the glaze by containing the pigments within incised lines.

Label TextInfluenced by the trade of Chinese porcelain, this dish is made of stonepaste, also known as fritware, a material introduced into Syria by Egyptian craftsmen in the late 11th century. The white body consists primarily of sand (quartz) with small amounts of frit (crushed glass) and clay. Islam, especially the text called the Hadith (Sayings of the Prophet), prohibits figural imagery in religious spaces and art, although secular and courtly arts of the Islamic world, like this dish, are not similarly restricted.Published References

The Toledo Museum of Art: Museum News, December 1941, pp. 1508-1509, fig. 6.