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Bowl with Harpies
View through Harvard Museums
In the center of this bowl two harpies (composite bird-women) are turned toward each other, their tail feathers joining overhead in an ogival arch. In Islamic lands these mythical creatures were associated astrologically with the planet Mercury and were considered generally auspicious. Foliate arabesques sprout from the harpies’ joined tails and fill the space below their feet. Encircling the bowl on the exterior is a single band of cursive script; it contains four hemistichs of medieval Persian poetry, which read,
Beware, O friend, things have gotten out of hand. In knowing you [my] days have been lost.
I had silver and gold, patience and sobriety.
In the grief inflicted by you all four have been lost.
The bowl has been reassembled from fragments with only minor losses and overpainting.
Department of Islamic & Later Indian Art
[Sotheby's London April 1975] sold; through [Mansour Gallery London 1975]; to Stanford and Norma Jean Calderwood Belmont MA (1975-2002) gift; to Harvard Art Museums 2002.
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art
Title: Bowl with Harpies
Description:
In the center of this bowl two harpies (composite bird-women) are turned toward each other, their tail feathers joining overhead in an ogival arch.
In Islamic lands these mythical creatures were associated astrologically with the planet Mercury and were considered generally auspicious.
Foliate arabesques sprout from the harpies’ joined tails and fill the space below their feet.
Encircling the bowl on the exterior is a single band of cursive script; it contains four hemistichs of medieval Persian poetry, which read,
Beware, O friend, things have gotten out of hand.
In knowing you [my] days have been lost.
I had silver and gold, patience and sobriety.
In the grief inflicted by you all four have been lost.
The bowl has been reassembled from fragments with only minor losses and overpainting.
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