The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Twelve-sided Ewer with Sphinxes and Human-Headed Inscriptions

Twelve-sided Ewer with Sphinxes and Human-Headed Inscriptions

1300–1350
Location: 116 Islamic

Did You Know?

Calligraphy with human heads, known as animated script, developed in northeast Iran during the 1100s.

Description

The spout and neck of the ewer display a crouching and seated lion in raised relief. Winged hare-like animals march around the top of the body, set off by foliate scrolls, while sphinxes process around the center. The bottom of the ewer’s body is encircled by an inscription with human heads, which only appear on metalwork in Islamic art. Ewers like this, and similar elaborate vessels, would have been used in court banquets and elite homes across the Islamic world.
  • ?-1945
    (Hagop Kevorkian [1872–1962], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1945-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Lethaby, W. R. "Notes." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 23, no. 124 (July 1913): 246-51. Mentioned: p. 247; Reproduced: p. 248 www.jstor.org
    "Closing Days of the Inaugural Exhibition." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 3, no. 3 (1916): 1-4. Reproduced: p. 8; mentioned: p. 9 www.jstor.org
    Hollis, Howard. "Two Inlaid Brasses." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 33, no. 4 (April 1946): 39-43. Mentioned: pp. 39-40; Reproduced: p. 41 www.jstor.org
    “Part II. Annual Report Issue for the Year 1945.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 33, no. 6, 1946, pp. 103–130. Mentioned: p. 107 25141295
    Baer, Eva. Sphinxes and Harpies in Medieval Islamic Art; An Iconographical Study. Jerusalem: Israel Oriental Society, 1965. Mentioned: p. 14, fn. 53; Reproduced: Pl. XIV, fig. 24
  • 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).
    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=Twelve-sided Ewer with Sphinxes and Human-Headed Inscriptions|url=false|author=|year=1300–1350|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1945.27