Bowl

Art Historical Context

bowl’s interior reveals a carefully balanced composition centered on a small rosette from which thin lines radiate outward, dividing the surface into wedge-shaped panels. Within these panels, stylized blue and turquoise leaves and blossoms alternate with dotted bands against a muted ground. A narrow border of repeating motifs rings the rim, all rendered in the soft, slightly blurred tones characteristic of underglaze painting on stonepaste. This fourteenth-century vessel, catalogued as Sultanabad ware, belongs to the rich tradition of Islamic ceramics preserved in the Metropolitan Museum’s Department of Islamic Art. Produced by an unknown artist, it demonstrates the period’s refined technique of applying pigments beneath a transparent glaze, allowing the design to remain crisp while achieving subtle color harmonies. Such bowls were valued both for everyday use and as objects of aesthetic pleasure, their geometric and floral patterns reflecting broader artistic preferences across the Persian-speaking world. Acquired through the bequest of William Milne Grinnell in 1920, the piece continues to illustrate the technical and decorative sophistication of medieval Islamic pottery for museum visitors today.