Storage Jar thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 137, The Curtain Foundation Gallery

Storage Jar

1050-1150 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This is the top section of an unglazed clay storage jar, most likely used to contain water. There are very few such jars which survive intact and this example is particularly noteworthy for its elaborate decoration and combined techniques of moulding, stamping and piercing. While the origin of such jars is not known, certain details such as the moon-shaped faces of the figures and their elaborate crowns and neckalces, as well as the rulership iconography exemplified by a cross-legged figure holding a beaker and the presence of lions point to Mesopotamia during the 11th-12th century, the Abbasid period.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Unglazed earthenware moulded and pierced
Brief description
Unglazed pottery, earthenware, of the top half of a large jar, Jazira, 1050-1150.
Physical description
The top half of a large jar. Unglazed pottery decorated with human and animal heads, figures seated cross-legged and standing and large peacocks set agains a scrolling vegetal background. Damage to bottom and side. Large human heads wear elaborate crowns, necklaces, while seated and standing figures have long plaits and elaborate costumes. Lower figures are framed within pearl-type border and rosette border.
Dimensions
  • Height: 12.75in
  • Diameter: 13.25in
Style
Production typeUnique
Object history
Check ceramics records

Historical significance: Storage jars such are these are quite rare and this example, though fragmentary is particularly elaborate with a rich programme of imagery. The mood-shape faces, detailed costumes and rulership iconography may help with its date and provenance.
Historical context
Few of these storage jars (habb) thought to have contained water have survived intact. Opinion is devided as to their origin. A Mesopotamian provenance has been suggested by early scholars such as Lane (1949), though a similar but less elaborate complete vessel in the Institute du Monde Arab has been attributed by Porter (1999) to Iraq and to the Jazira. This seems to be supported by the moon-shaped faces on the figures and the elaborate costume style. Unglazed vessels usually suggest a utilitarian use at a non-courtly level, however the extensive figural decoration and combination of piercing, stamping and moulding suggests ostentatious display of wealth on a utilitarian object.
Production
Mesopotamia
Subjects depicted
Summary
This is the top section of an unglazed clay storage jar, most likely used to contain water. There are very few such jars which survive intact and this example is particularly noteworthy for its elaborate decoration and combined techniques of moulding, stamping and piercing. While the origin of such jars is not known, certain details such as the moon-shaped faces of the figures and their elaborate crowns and neckalces, as well as the rulership iconography exemplified by a cross-legged figure holding a beaker and the presence of lions point to Mesopotamia during the 11th-12th century, the Abbasid period.
Bibliographic reference
Lane, A. Early Islamic Pottery, London, 1949, Fig. 37b, 28.
Collection
Accession number
340-1899

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Record createdAugust 4, 2003
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