Collection Charles Gillet (1879 – 1972), puis par descendance

Raqqa glazed ceramics of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries can be divided into three categories: underglaze-painted and lustre-decorated wares; wares painted in black beneath a transparent turquoise glaze; and wares decorated in black and cobalt, or in black alone, beneath a colourless glaze. With its transparent, slightly turquoise glaze, the present bowl is highly characteristic of this production, particularly in the accumulation of glaze at the bottom of the vessel and around the foot.

The animal kingdom, and birds in particular, occupies a prominent place in this decorative repertoire, as exemplified by a vase depicting peacocks in the National Museum of Damascus (inv. A/7016). The radiating composition of the three birds on the present bowl recalls that of a sherd decorated with three hares arranged in a circle, preserved at the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo (inv. 6939/1). The bowl’s footed form also finds a parallel in a hemispherical bowl depicting a bearded harpy, held at the National Museum of Damascus (inv. A/1436).

For these works, see L’Orient de Saladin. L’art des Ayyoubides, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Institut du monde arabe, 2001, nos. 111, 155 and 160.