The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 14, 2025

Bowl

late 1100s–early 1200s

Ayyubid Syria, Rusapha

fritware with luster-painted design
Overall: 10.2 x 36 cm (4 x 14 3/16 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1944.75
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Fritware approximates the appearance of porcelain. Potters made a paste of ground quartz, clay, and glass, which when fired, created a compact white material closely resembling precious porcelain.

Description

This deep bowl with a wide flat rim is coated with a pale sea-green glaze. The interior is divided into three triangular sections by a simple foliate pattern. Within each triangle, a seated figure holding a cup is reserved in splashes of chocolate-colored luster. The rim is decorated with 15 panels containing freely painted dots and strokes, which suggest highly abstracted script.
  • V. Everit Macy Sr. [1871–1930], New York
    Parish-Watson & Co., Inc., New York, NY
    after 1931?–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. 170, p. 39; Reproduced: no. 170 [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. 170, p. 39
    Anderson Galleries, New York. English, American & Continental Furniture: Rare Jacobean, Queen Anne, & Georgian Silver, Fine English & French Porcelains, Oriental & Aubusson Carpets, Objects of Art. 21-22 January 1938 sale. No. 492
    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: inside cover [unpaginated] 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. 26, fig. 28
  • Al-Andalus: Art from Islamic Spain (Islamic art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 29, 2019-October 25, 2020).
  • {{cite web|title=Bowl|url=false|author=|year=late 1100s–early 1200s|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1944.75