On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Bowl

700-900 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
China (made)

Large quantities of Chinese white-glazed bowls and dishes have been found in countries in the Middle East. They are testimony to the active trade between China and its neighbours.

Object details

Category
Food Vessels & Tableware
Object type
Bowl
Materials and techniques
Stoneware with bluish-white glaze
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 10.5cm
  • Height: 3.5cm
Style
Tang
Gallery label
(Jameel Gallery)
Jameel Gallery

1-2 Plain Whiteware Bowls
Northern China, probably Gongxian, and Iraq, probably Basra
700-900

These two bowls illustrate the first stage in Islamic luxury ceramics. The smaller Chinese bowl is the type of whiteware imported into Iraq from about 750. The larger Iraqi bowl shows how this whiteware was imitated. It has the same shape, and originally had the same bright whiteness, now dulled by long burial.

Stoneware with transparent glaze and earthenware with opaque glaze

Museum nos. C.22-1950; C.178-1984
Summary
Large quantities of Chinese white-glazed bowls and dishes have been found in countries in the Middle East. They are testimony to the active trade between China and its neighbours.
Bibliographic reference
Jessica Hallett, 'Pearl Cups Like the Moon: the Abbasid Reception of Chinese Ceramics and the Belitung Shipwreck', in Venetia Porter and Mariam Rosser-Owen (eds), Metalwork and Material Culture in the Islamic World, London and New York, 2012, pp.349-361, Fig.20.2.
Collection
East Asia Collection
Accession number
C.22-1950

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Record createdMarch 7, 2000
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O33703/bowl-unknown/
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