Earthenware dish, decorated with green and manganese
Spain, Cordoba; 10th century
H: 2.6; Diam: 21.9 cm
Inventory number 38/1999
The finest pottery from the Spanish Umayyad Caliphate is painted in copper green and manganese on a white slip under a transparent glaze.
The motifs most often consist of green palmettes or Kufi inscriptions contoured in manganese. The most common inscription is the one found here: al-mulk, for “royal power [is God’s].” It is unusual that the dish is also decorated on the back, with two confronted lions around something that resembles a lamp.
Technically, early Spanish-Muslim pottery reflects an eastern tradition, but its decoration bears the greatest similarities to contemporary pieces from North Africa.
The motifs most often consist of green palmettes or Kufi inscriptions contoured in manganese. The most common inscription is the one found here: al-mulk, for “royal power [is God’s].” It is unusual that the dish is also decorated on the back, with two confronted lions around something that resembles a lamp.
Technically, early Spanish-Muslim pottery reflects an eastern tradition, but its decoration bears the greatest similarities to contemporary pieces from North Africa.
Published in
Published in
Éric Delpont (ed.): Les Andalousies de Damas à Cordoue, Institut du monde arabe, Paris 2000, cat.no. 119;
Kjeld von Folsach: Art from the World of Islam in The David Collection, Copenhagen 2001, cat.no. 111;
Jonathan Bloom and Sheila Blair (eds.): And diverse are their hues: color in Islamic art and culture, New Haven 2011, p. 83, fig. 58;
Farzaneh Pirouz-Moussavi: Cerámica entre dos mares: De Bagdad a la talavera de Puebla = Clay between two seas: from Baghdad to the talavera of Puebla, Mexico 2017, p. 68;
Kjeld von Folsach: Art from the World of Islam in The David Collection, Copenhagen 2001, cat.no. 111;
Jonathan Bloom and Sheila Blair (eds.): And diverse are their hues: color in Islamic art and culture, New Haven 2011, p. 83, fig. 58;
Farzaneh Pirouz-Moussavi: Cerámica entre dos mares: De Bagdad a la talavera de Puebla = Clay between two seas: from Baghdad to the talavera of Puebla, Mexico 2017, p. 68;
Ceramics
Wellhead, earthenware painted in green and a manganese-colored glaze
Earthenware bowl with handles, painted with a green and manganese glaze
Earthenware jar painted with blue in and with lustre over an opaque white glaze
Earthenware dish, painted with lustre over, and in blue in, an opaque, white glaze