The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Cylindrical jar with a rim slightly narrower than the body and tall, black Arabic text wrapping around the body (see "Inscriptions"). The background is highly worn, with fine cracks and blotchy white, black, and yellow-brown coloring. The yellow-brown clusters mostly around chips in the glazing.

Albarello Jar with an Aphorism

900s

Central Asia, Samarkand, Samanid period

(819–1005)
Earthenware with underglaze decoration
Diameter: 9.7 cm (3 13/16 in.); Overall: 13 cm (5 1/8 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1996.298
Location: 116 Islamic

Did You Know?

The jar's Arabic inscription written in Eastern Kufic script.

Description

The albarello was a jar designed to hold ointments and drugs for pharmacists. They were produced in the Middle East and Spain, as well as late medieval and Renaissance Italy. Albarellos are usually painted with floral, vegetal, or geometric designs. Arabic inscriptions are less common but here the elegant text reads: “Modesty [comes] from faith, and faith [comes] from Paradise,” attributed to the Prophet Muhammad.
  • Family of Gerard Cohen, Paris, France
    ?–1996
    (Momtaz Islamic Art, London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1996–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, “Renaissance Armor, Early Islamic Ceramic, French Vase, Gleitsman Painting Added to Museum Collection,” December 13, 1996, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    McWilliams, Mary, "A Samanid Albarello", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 37 no. 08, October 1997 Mentioned & reproduced: pp. 8–9 archive.org
  • Art of the Islamic World (Islamic art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (May 21, 2021-May 31, 2022).
  • {{cite web|title=Albarello Jar with an Aphorism|url=false|author=|year=900s|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1996.298