Islamic Art: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 23, no. 6 ...

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the many types made in the twelfth century, that with molded relief decoration seems to have been especially popular. This type was subject in turn to many variations, of which the Museum possesses a large and representative selection, but one recently discovered example is so unusual that it may well be the unique survivor of its kind. This small whiteglazed bowl (Figure 14) is in the shape of a bird with a human face. Its body is decorated with delicate reliefs: a frieze of animals running along the rim, and a medallion on each side containing a human figure. The slightly fluted foot follows the outline of the vessel as a whole-rounded in front and coming to a sharp point behind. The face (Figure I5) with its almond-shaped eyes, straight nose, high cheekbones, and minute mouth, is clearly of the Seljuk type, as encountered in the stucco sculpture (Figure I7) and painted pottery of the period. Its application to what appears to be the body of a bird recalls the mythological figure of the harpy, which can frequently be found in Islamic art and probably goes back to Central Asian sources. The same face, with a very similar crown and necklace, appears on a small fragmentary bowl (Figure i6) in Tehran; there it constitutes the sole element of decoration, repeated eight times, so that the bowl has a multilobed shape. There can be little doubt that both pieces belong to the same school, the location of which we do not know, but it may well have been Rayy. Muslim potters of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were not content, however, with molding the surfaces of vessels into animal shapes, but occasionally tried to make something closer to the real thing. The result of these efforts is an exceedingly scarce group of human and animal figurines in clay, most of them small in scale, and generally decorated in monochrome glaze. Many still at least pretend to be objects of utility -aquamaniles or vases; that is, they are usually hollow and have an opening at the top into which water can be poured. A few of these pieces, however, are solid: real pieces of small sculpture, a great rarity in Islamic art. Such a work is the handsome camel (Figure i8), only eight inches high, bearing on its hump an enclosed balda- chin saddle of the type used by Muslim women. The piece, probably made in the second half of the twelfth century, is covered with a glaze that was originally turquoise blue but has turned an even more appealing silvery tone. Attribution of such objects to a particular workshop is very difficult, but they may have been made at Rayy, for the special delight of the nobles of the court. It was probably in the same city (though substantial proof is lacking) that the art of luster painting was at this time introduced, and developed to new heights of perfection. OPPOSITE: 18. Camel, Persian, xI century. Height 8 inches. Fletcher Fund, 64.59 I9. Luster-painted ewer, Persian (Rayy), xiI-xiiI century. Height 12 1316 inches. Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 63.I 57.
Page 1 and 2: j/ :, V p A v4 =Ai:
Page 3 and 4: THE GALLERIES OF ISLAMIC ART After
Page 5 and 6: excavated material, such as that fo
Page 7 and 8: There is a little cup (Figure 3) fo
Page 9 and 10: concave, which necessitated a vesse
Page 11 and 12: the Museum has recently acquired: F
Page 13 and 14: variety and avoid a stereotyped app
Page 15 and 16: The Art of Islamic Pottery E R N S
Page 17 and 18: alanced design consisting of two wo
Page 19 and 20: cially those that are well preserve
Page 21 and 22: the Tulunid and early Fatimid perio
Page 23: Because of the similarity of the ne
Page 27 and 28: OPPOSITE: 20. (above). Luster-paint
Page 29 and 30: half a century before the devastate
Page 31 and 32: ji ; i - 32. Detail of a miniature
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Islamic Art: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 23, no. 6 ...

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