Physical description
Bowl with a high cylindrical footring, convex sides and a slightly out-turned rim. It may be covered with a white slip under a transparent glaze, rather than a tin-opacified glaze. The decoration is painted in reddish-brown lustre, which varies slightly in tone across the bowl, probably as a result of uneven heat in the kiln. The lustre-painting is articulated by scratches through the pigment. Plain concentric bands around the rim frame the central figural decoration, which depicts a hooded man, probably a Coptic priest, carrying a large lamp or censer, while the space to his left is occupied by a cypress tree. The Arabic word Sa'd is written twice, back to front, on the exterior.
Place of Origin
Egypt (made)
Cairo, Egypt (probably, made)
Date
1050-1100 (made)
Artist/maker
Unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Fritware, with overglaze lustre decoration
Marks and inscriptions
Sa'd happiness
Dimensions
Height: 10.4 cm, Diameter: 23.5 cm of mouth, Diameter: 10.2 cm of foot
Descriptive line
Lustre bowl with a priest, Egypt (probably Cairo), 1050-1100.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Jenkins, Marilyn, "Sa'd: Content and Context", in P. Soucek (ed.), Content and Context of the Visual Arts in the Islamic World (Pennsylvania and London, 1988): 67-75, fig. 6
Jenkins, M., Evans, H. and Wixon, W. (edd.), The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era AD 843-1261 (New York, 1997): cat.no.273, pl.417
Contadini, Anna, Fatimid Art at the Victoria & Albert Museum. London: V&A Publications, 1998. p.86, plates 34a and 34b
Soustiel, Jean. La céramique islamique. Le guide du connaisseur. Fribourg, Office du Livre, 1985. ISBN 2-8264-0002-9. Pl. 148, p. 133
Lane, Arthur. Early Islamic Pottery. London: Faber and Faber, 1947. 52p., ill.. pp. 21-2, plate 26A (ex Kelekian Collection).
Tim Stanley, Palace and Mosque: Islamic Art from the Middle East, London, V&A Publications, 2004; p. 118, plate 137
[Tim Stanley], 'Bowl with an image of a Coptic priest', in Beyond Boundaries. Islamic Art Across Cultures, Doha: Museum of Islamic Art, 2008, pp. 26-7.
Original text for this publication:
Bowl with an image of a Coptic priest
Egypt, probably Cairo, 1050-1100
Fritware under a white slip, with lustre over the transparent glaze
Height 10.4 cm, diameter 23.5 cm
In AD 969, there was a change of power in Egypt. The country was conquered by the army of the Fatimid caliph, whose seat was in Tunisia, far to the west. Soon after, Cairo was founded as the caliph's new capital, and the city quickly became a centre of luxury trades. Among the craftsmen attracted there were makers of lustre pottery, which had been invented in Iraq more than a century earlier.
In lustre production, a glazed vessel or tile was made in the normal way. When the piece had cooled, a design was painted over the glaze in metallic compounds. It was then fired again, this time with a restricted supply of oxygen. In these conditions, the metallic compounds broke down, and a thin deposit of copper or silver was fused to the surface of the glaze. When polished, this surface layer reflected the light.
Like the earlier Iraqi wares, Egyptian lustre bowls were often decorated with a single large figure. The style of painting is quite different, however. The Iraqi figures are often schematic, probably because they were copied from objects made of precious metals. As this example shows, however, the Egyptian figures are close to those found in other types of painted decoration. In this case, there are large areas of solid lustre, but the painter has lightened the effect by scratching spiral patterns through to the white ground beneath.
There were technical advances, too. At first, the potters in Egypt, like the Iraqis before them, made earthernware vessels, using opaque glazes to create a white ground for the lustre. By 1050, though, they were experimenting with a white body material called fritware, made predominately from ground quartz rather than clay. This was the body material used here.
On the outside of the bowl the Arabic word sa'd (happiness) is written backwards. It is not known whether this word was intended as good wishes for the owner, which were a common feature of Islamic decorative art, or was the name of the maker or of the workshop in which he worked.
On the inside of the bowl is a hooded figure carrying a censer suspended on chains. He has been identified as a Coptic priest, that is, a priest of Egypt's independent Christian church. This image does not make the bowl "Coptic", however. It belongs to the broader Islamic culture that prevailed in Egypt at this time, and in which Copts, like other Christians and Jews, played an important part.
Beside the priest is a cypress tree. Its presence suggests a garden setting, and the priest is presumably standing in a the grounds of a monastery. Monasteries in the Middle East have always produced wine, which was enjoyed by visitors, Christian and non-Christian alike. As a consequence, monastery gardens were often the scene of merrymaking in Arab poetry. The bowl therefore illustrates the diverse religious life of the Islamic Middle East and an aspect of Arab secular literary culture in which Christians played a notable role.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London: C.49-1952. Purchased with the assistance of the National Art Collections Fund and the Bryan Bequest.
Exhibition History
Beyond Boundaries: Islamic Art Across Cultures (24/11/2008-22/02/2009)
Palace and Mosque: Islamic Art from the Victoria and Albert Museum (The Millennium Galleries, Sheffield 14/01/2006-16/04/2006)
Palace and Mosque: Islamic Art from the Victoria and Albert Museum (Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo 01/10/2005-04/12/2005)
Palace and Mosque: Islamic Art from the Victoria and Albert Museum (Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas 03/04/2005-04/09/2005)
Palace and Mosque: Islamic Art from the Victoria and Albert Museum (National Gallery of Art, Washington 18/07/2004-06/02/2005)
Saved! 100 Years of the National Art Collections Fund (Hayward Gallery, London 23/10/2003-18/01/2004)
Labels and date
BOWL
Fritware painted in gold lustre on a white glaze, depicting a Coptic priest holding a lamp. Signed by the potter Sa'd
EGYPTIAN (Fatimid, said to have been found near Luxor); first half of the 12th century [Used until 09/2000]
Bowl with Priest
Egypt, probably Cairo
1050-1100
By 1050 Egyptian potters were experimenting with a white body material called fritware. On this bowl a Coptic, or Egyptian Christian, priest holds a lamp. Beside him is a cypress tree. Its presence suggests he is standing in a monastery garden, a setting much-loved by Arab poets.
Fritware under a white slip, with lustre over the transparent glaze
Museum no. C.49-1952. Purchased with the assistance of the National Art Collections Fund [Jameel Gallery]
Production Note
said to have been found near Luxor
Materials
Fritware; Lustre
Techniques
Thrown; Lustre-painted; Slipped
Subjects depicted
Lamp; Censer; Cypress tree; Coptic priest
Categories
Islam; Christianity; Africa
Collection code
MES
