Byzantine, 12th/ 13th century | Two bowls with hares

Decorations including hares were commonly found on 12th and 13th-century Byzantine pottery, often within the context of hunting. The present dishes show single hares, which appears to be a rare iconography. More commonly, hares were depicted with other animals or human figures, see examples in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and at the Archaeological Museum in Corinth, Greece (op. cit., nos. 190, 191 and 192).

RELATED LITERATURE

E. D. Maguire, ‘Ceramic Arts of Everyday Life’, in H.C. Evans and W. D. Wixom (eds.), The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, AD 843-1261, exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997, pp. 254-272