The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Luster Dish with Polo Player

1170–1200

Iran, Seljuq period

(1037–1194)
fritware with luster-painted design
Overall: 7.2 x 35.5 cm (2 13/16 x 14 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1944.74
Location: 234 Textile Gallery

Did You Know?

Where fine clay was unavailable, potters made a paste out of ground quartz, clay, and glass. When fired, the paste created a compact white material called fritware that approximated the appearance of porcelain.

Description

Luster potters migrated to the city of Kashan in Iran where luster ware reached its greatest height during the 1170s until about 1220. This masterful dish features a mounted polo player, a figure representing the Iranian ideal of beauty with a round moon-like face and fine features.
  • V. Everit Macy Sr. [1871–1930], New York
    Parish-Watson & Co., Inc., New York, NY
    ?–1944
    (Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1944–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 V[alentine] Everit Macy Sr. was an American industrialist and philanthropist and was involved in local government in Westchester County, New York.
  • Dimand, Maurice Sven. Loan Exhibition of Ceramic Art of the Near East, New York, May 12 to June 28, MCMXXXI. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1931. Mentioned: no. 52, p. 13; Reproduced: no. 52 [unpaginated]
    Dimand, Maurice Sven. Loan Exhibition of Ceramic Art of the Near East, New York, May 12 to June 28, MCMXXXI. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1931. Mentioned: no. 52, p. 13
    Pope, Arthur Upham, Phyllis Ackerman, and Theodore Bestermann. A Survey of Persian Art from Prehistoric Times to the Present. London: Oxford University Press, 1938. Reproduced: Vol. V, pI. 633B [unpaginated]
    Hollis, Howard. “Two near Eastern Lustered Bowls.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 31, no. 9 (November 1944): 158–163 and inside cover. Mentioned: pp. 158–160; Reproduced: p. 163 www.jstor.org
    Shepherd, Dorothy. "A Luster Bowl from Gurgan." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 44, no. 9 (November 1957): 196–197. Mentioned: p. 197 www.jstor.org
    Neils, Jenifer. The World of Ceramics: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Museum in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1982. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 25, fig. 27
    Neils, Jenifer. “The Twain Shall Meet.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 72, no. 6 (October 1985): 326–359. Reproduced: p. 347, fig. 42 www.jstor.org
    Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 96–97
    Mackie, Louise W. "Transformations: Art from Islamic Lands in the Cleveland Collection." Orientations: The Magazine for Collectors and Connoisseurs of Asian Art, November/December 2013. Reproduced: p. 79, fig. 1
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 227
    “A Walking Tour: The entire new museum wing by wing, with curators calling out a few favorite works in the collection.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 54, no. 1 (January/February 2014): 8–33. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 11 archive.org
  • American Printed Silks, 1927–1947. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 9, 2025-November 8, 2026).
    Iranian Ceramics. The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (October 2-December 15, 1963).
    For Modern America from the Ancient Near East. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 24-March 21, 1948).
  • {{cite web|title=Luster Dish with Polo Player|url=false|author=|year=1170–1200|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1944.74