Jug thumbnail 1
Jug thumbnail 2
On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Jug

1080-1100 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
Egypt (made)

Rock crystal is a transparent, colourless quartz. The art of carving rock crystal was known in Roman times and in Egypt under the Fatimid dynasty (909-1171). In Europe it was practised mainly in the north, but also in Italy. The Miseroni family, working in Milan then Prague from the 1550s, supplied the courts of Europe with rock crystal.

Object details

Categories
Islam
Africa
Object type
Jug
Materials and techniques
Rock crystal
Quartz Crystal
Hollowed
Brief description
Jug, Egypt (Fatimid dynasty), rock crystal, ca. 1080-1100
Physical description
The jug is pear-shaped, has a small neck and one handle, and does not have the spout characteristic of the well-known Fatimid ewers. The crystal is cracked. The piece has an obvious connection with a type of Roman rock crystal jugs, as demonstrated by comparison with V&A A.74-1952.
Dimensions
  • Height: 4.6cm
  • Maximum width: 3.7cm
  • Base diameter: 1.7cm
  • At the belly circumference: 12.5cm
Styles
Fatimid
Abbasid
Credit line
Given by Dr W. L. Hildburgh FSA
Object history
Given by Dr W. L. Hildburgh (1876-1955), who gave the purchase price of £3. The object was formerly in the collection of Henry Wallis (1830-1916), and had been on loan to the V&A since at least 1917. It appears as no. 217 on a list of loans on Henry Wallis's nominal file.
Production
Fatimid dynasty
Summary
Rock crystal is a transparent, colourless quartz. The art of carving rock crystal was known in Roman times and in Egypt under the Fatimid dynasty (909-1171). In Europe it was practised mainly in the north, but also in Italy. The Miseroni family, working in Milan then Prague from the 1550s, supplied the courts of Europe with rock crystal.
Bibliographic references
  • Contadini, Anna, Fatimid Art at the Victoria & Albert Museum. London: V&A Publications, 1998. p.38, plate 8
  • Longhurst, "Some Crystals of the Fatimid Period", Burlington Magazine 48 (1926): p.149 ff.
  • Lamm, Mittelalterliche Gläser und Steinschnittearbeiten (Berlin, 1930), vol.1, p.229; vol.2, Tafel 84,6
Collection
Middle East Section
Accession number
A.53-1926

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Record createdFebruary 24, 2003
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O74950/jug-unknown/
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