Fragment of a Bowl
13th-14th century
Medium
Ceramic
Dimensions
3.2 × 6.4 × 6 cm (1 1/4 × 2 1/2 × 2 3/8 in.)
Classification
fragment
Department
Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
92538
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Fragments of Byzantine pottery preserve a variety of geometric and abstract floral motifs, and even personalized monograms. Such decorations were often created by cutting through the white slip, or glaze, to reveal the red earthenware beneath, a technique known as a sgraffito. Color washes in a range of greens and browns were then placed over the incised decoration, a method first introduced in the 12th century. Later, Byzantine pottery such as this circulated throughout the eastern Mediterranea...
About the Artist
Byzantine
"Byzantine" is the collective attribution given to anonymous artists working within the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, whose creations spanned from the 4th to the 15th centuries, primarily in Constantinople and its cultural sphere. These masters produced a vast body of art that defined an era, with museums like the Walters Art Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago cataloging numerous works un...