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Alms Bowl
View through Harvard Museums
This small bowl imitates so-called silhouette wares of the Seljuk-Atabeg period (twelfth to thirteenth century), on which black slip was applied directly to the white ceramic body and the pattern carved or incised through the slip before the vessel was covered in glaze (turquoise, as here, or colorless). Original bowls of this shape were purportedly used for collecting alms. Incised in cursive script on the upper part of this bowl are the words glory, good fortune, and prince; the other words in the inscription do not make sense together. On the lower body, carved lines separate the black slip into segments. The glaze has flowed heavily onto and under the foot, so that the vessel does not sit evenly.
Department of Islamic & Later Indian Art
Stanford and Norma Jean Calderwood Belmont MA (by 1974-2002) gift; to Harvard Art Museums 2002.
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art
Title: Alms Bowl
Description:
This small bowl imitates so-called silhouette wares of the Seljuk-Atabeg period (twelfth to thirteenth century), on which black slip was applied directly to the white ceramic body and the pattern carved or incised through the slip before the vessel was covered in glaze (turquoise, as here, or colorless).
Original bowls of this shape were purportedly used for collecting alms.
Incised in cursive script on the upper part of this bowl are the words glory, good fortune, and prince; the other words in the inscription do not make sense together.
On the lower body, carved lines separate the black slip into segments.
The glaze has flowed heavily onto and under the foot, so that the vessel does not sit evenly.
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