The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 17, 2025

A brass, bowl-shaped cup covered in intricate designs. The rim of the cup features inscriptions of letters composed of human and animal figures. All around the cup are interlacing bands filled with human and animal figures.

The Wade Cup with Animated Script

1200–1221
(1037–1194)
brass inlaid with silver
Overall: 11.5 cm (4 1/2 in.); Diameter: 16.1 cm (6 5/16 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1944.485
Location: 116 Islamic

Did You Know?

This is known as the Wade Cup, after J. H. Wade who bequeathed the funds for its acquisition

Description

The highlight of the cup’s decoration is the inscription around the rim, which you see on the walls around you, with letters composed of human figures, animals, and birds. This is known as animated script and it developed in northeast Iran or Afghanistan during the mid-1100s and migrated westward. The inscription on the rim of the Wade Cup is the pinnacle of this form of script with its full-figure animation. The body of the cup is covered with interlacing bands of compartments containing tiny figures of humans and animals. These represent the 12 signs of the zodiac from astrology, the practice of interpreting the influence of planets and stars on earthly affairs. Astrology began in Mesopotamia, was adopted by the Greeks, and then absorbed into medieval Islamic culture through translations of Greek texts.
  • ?–1944
    (Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1944–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Rice, D. S. The Wade Cup in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Paris: Éditions du Chêne, 1955.
    Ettinghausen, Richard. “The ‘Wade Cup’ in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Its Origin and Decorations.” Ars Orientalis, vol. 2, 1957, pp. 327–366. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 327–366 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 708 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 209 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 209 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 265 archive.org
    May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Mentioned: no. 73, p. 118; Reproduced: p. 70
    Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Reproduced: pp. 102-103
    Blair, Sheila. Text and Image in Medieval Persian Art. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2014. Mentioned: p. 107, note 65
    Mackie, Louise W. Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th-21st Century. Cleveland; New Haven: Cleveland Museum of Art; Yale University Press, 2015. Reproduced and Mentioned : P. 33, fig. 1.17
    Schick, Irvin Cemil. "The Content of Form: Islamic Calligraphy between Text and Representation." In Sign and Design: Script as Image in a Cross-Cultural Perspective (300-1600 CE) (Symposium). Brigitte Bedos-Rezak, and Jeffrey F. Hamburger, eds., 173-194. Washington, D.C: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2016. Reproduced: p. 177, fig. 9.2
    Strong, Meghan E. “Art of the Islamic World.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 61, no. 3 (Summer 2021): 28-30. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 30.
    Mühlemann, Corinne. Complex Weaves: Technique, Text, and Cultural History of Striped Silks. Affalterbach: Didymos-Verlag, 2023. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 78–79, figs. 41–42
  • Art of the Islamic World (Islamic art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (May 21, 2021-May 31, 2022).
    Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).
    The Exhibition of Persian Art: 7000 Years of Art in Iran. Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France (organizer) (October 19, 1961-January 31, 1962).
    For Modern America from the Ancient Near East. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 24-March 21, 1948).
    Islamic Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 3, 1944-February 2, 1945).
  • {{cite web|title=The Wade Cup with Animated Script|url=false|author=|year=1200–1221|access-date=17 May 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1944.485