|
Large jug with piriform body, long neck and
irregular flared mouth, the long strapped handle
twisted, placed just below the rim and bent
downward onto the belly. The decoration covers
the upper part of the belly and includes several
concentric bands with vertical lines in relief and a
band of triangles and small circlets. Since the
edges of the designs are quite sharp and the
reliefs rather high, one can safely assume that
this jug was carved rather than moulded, thus
indicating a date between the 9th and the 11th
centuries AD.
Unglazed vessels have been excavated from
various official Islamic sites from Syria up to
Afghanistan, but often neglected in publications
in favour of the smaller number of glazed
examples. Both typology and decorative patterns
were diffused over a wide area and sometimes
attribution remains uncertain. In the case of our
vessel, both shape and decoration, which was
popular already during the Abbasid period,
would indicate a Central Asian origin, possibly
from Afghanistan during the early Islamic period.
References:
G. Fehervari, Ceramics of the Islamic World,
2000: pp. 189-193.
- (LO.540)
|
