Bowling for Clues For my detective assignment I elected to research object D-12, a small ceramic bowl with multiple cracks. I estimate the diameter of the bowl to be about 18 to 20cm and the width about 35cm with a height of 8cm. It is beautiful piece portraying a polo player surrounded by flower and sun motifs. The polo player appears to be female and is dressed in a gorgeous and complex gown. The vegetal themes are complimented by the use of the neutral shades brown and tan and a luster finish to give the bowl a nice uncolored glaze. What appear to be leaves around the polo player are filled with checkered patterns, which could be another reference to entertainment. Is should also be noted the leaves seem to wrap around the woman, embracing
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This bowl was found on christies.com, an online auction source known for handling artifacts of significant worth. On the site, Lot #52 is a “Kashan Lustre Tazza” which displays the same depiction of an East Asian women surrounded by vegetal themes and earthy tones (“A Kashan Lustre Tazza”). The two bowls also share a simplistic pattern of vines and loose calligraphy that obviously originated from the same region. After reading the item description and seeing that the bowl was of similar size, similar material, and of Islamic origin I decided the two must be closely related. Following this decision I looked further into “Kashan bowls”. Shortly after researching Kashan, I found an “Encyclopedia Iranica” page describing the history of the Middle Eastern city of Kashan and it’s production of high-quality ceramics. Upon reading that Kashan was strongly associated with the production of decorative bowls, most often ceramic, with a unique luster glaze I decided that item D-12 was most likely from Kashan during it’s highest point of production, 1170 - 2200 AD (Graves). Further research into Kashan bowls reveal repeating patterns of vegetal themes and living creatures similar to the ones found on item D-12 provides more evidence to this suggestion. This similar bowls can be found on the Met Museum site (Accession Numbers 1983.247 and 68.223.5), the Brooklyn Museum catalogue (“Light of Sufis” Exhibit), and from Glendale Community College art history page. All of these sites contained objects with bowls of comparable size, decoration, and art work. There were people on each one, often in the same earthy tones as D-12, and often surrounded by vegetal or checkered
This bowl was found on christies.com, an online auction source known for handling artifacts of significant worth. On the site, Lot #52 is a “Kashan Lustre Tazza” which displays the same depiction of an East Asian women surrounded by vegetal themes and earthy tones (“A Kashan Lustre Tazza”). The two bowls also share a simplistic pattern of vines and loose calligraphy that obviously originated from the same region. After reading the item description and seeing that the bowl was of similar size, similar material, and of Islamic origin I decided the two must be closely related. Following this decision I looked further into “Kashan bowls”. Shortly after researching Kashan, I found an “Encyclopedia Iranica” page describing the history of the Middle Eastern city of Kashan and it’s production of high-quality ceramics. Upon reading that Kashan was strongly associated with the production of decorative bowls, most often ceramic, with a unique luster glaze I decided that item D-12 was most likely from Kashan during it’s highest point of production, 1170 - 2200 AD (Graves). Further research into Kashan bowls reveal repeating patterns of vegetal themes and living creatures similar to the ones found on item D-12 provides more evidence to this suggestion. This similar bowls can be found on the Met Museum site (Accession Numbers 1983.247 and 68.223.5), the Brooklyn Museum catalogue (“Light of Sufis” Exhibit), and from Glendale Community College art history page. All of these sites contained objects with bowls of comparable size, decoration, and art work. There were people on each one, often in the same earthy tones as D-12, and often surrounded by vegetal or checkered