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| "Tell Minis" type lustre-ware bowl with human-headed winged lion |
| Ceramic; stonepaste; stonepaste body; white tin-opacified lead-alkali glaze; overglaze lustre paint |
| Centimetres: 6.8 (height), 19.8 (diameter) |
| 1075-1100 AD |
| Medieval Islamic; Fatimid; 11th-12th century AD |
| Area of Origin: Unknown site; Levant; Syria |
| 960.219.2 | | ROM2003_726_1 | | |
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Description: The sphinx is best known from its depiction in Egyptian art, but the idea of combining a human head with an animal body pervaded the arts of the ancient Near East. Most of this region became part of the Islamic empire by the eighth century AD. Many of the older artistic traditions simply continued but were given new meaning under Islam. The sphinx gained recognition as the Prophet Muhammad’s fabulous winged beast, Buraq. From the eleventh century on this lion-like animal with human face appears on many artifacts made for the Islamic world: on metalwork, textiles, and wood furnishings. The body of the sphinx on this bowl is painted as a lustrous golden silhouette, with its hair and feathers drawn by scratching through the lustre paint.
Metallic lustre-painting and glazes made opaque with tin are two of the great inventions of the potters of the Islamic world. These technologies later spread to Europe. Both first appeared on pottery in Iraq in the eighth century AD, but their origins were in glass-making in Syria and the glazing technology of ancient Mesopotamia. Such syntheses of knowledge leading to new ideas were typical of this period of Islamic civilisation.
This particular object represents the re-introduction of these technologies into Syria around 1075 AD. We don’t know exactly where this bowl was made, but it belongs to a group associated with the town of Tell Minis in western Syria where a large cache of vessels was found in a cave. Production was short-lived (c. AD 1100-1125), probably because of the arrival of the Crusaders and relocation of the potters to safer regions. |
Publications:
1. Porter, V., and O. Watson (1987) "‘Tell Minis' Wares," in Syria and Iran: Three Studies in Medieval Ceramics, eds. J. Allan and C. Roberts, pp. 192-206, Oxford Studies in Islamic Art IV, Oxford University Press, Oxford: pl. A7.
2. Mason, R. B. (1997) "Medieval Syrian Lustre-painted and Associated Wares: Typology in a Multidisciplinary Study," Levant XXIX: 167-198.
3. Mason, R. B. J. (2004) Shine Like the Sun: Lustre-painted and Associated Pottery from the Medieval Middle East, Mazda publications, Costa Mesa, and Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, plate C.6. |
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