Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs and Carpets
Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs and Carpets
An intact Raqqa turquoise and black pottery jar with horizontal stripes, Syria, early 13th century
Auction Closed
October 27, 03:41 PM GMT
Estimate
15,000 - 25,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
of baluster form on a foot with recessed base, the high sloping shoulders rising to a straight cylindrical neck with everted mouth, the body decorated under a dark turquoise glaze in black with horizontal bands
21cm. height
Please note that there may be restrictions on the import of property of Syrian origin into the United States. Any buyers planning to import property of Syrian origin should satisfy themselves of the relevant import regime with the country of destination. Sotheby's will not assist buyers with the shipment of such items into the USA. In addition, Fedex and US courier services will no longer carry Syrian-origin goods to any location. Any shipment services would need to be provided by a Fine Art shipping company.
William Gwinn Mather, Cleveland (d.1951).
William Gwinn Mather was an important industrialist who made his fortune in the Iron industry. His home, the Gwinn Mansion, situated on the shores of Lake Erie in Cleveland, was modelled as an Italianate villa by the architect Charles A. Platt. Both a donor and former president of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Mather had a passion for art and philanthropy.
William Gwinn Mather was an important industrialist who made his fortune in the Iron industry. His home, the Gwinn Mansion, situated on the shores of Lake Erie in Cleveland, was modelled as an Italianate villa by the architect Charles A. Platt. Both a donor and former president of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Mather had a passion for art and philanthropy.
This type of jar with its baluster-shaped body was a speciality of the Euphrates kilns at Raqqa in eastern Syria during the prosperous period of patronage instigated by the Ayyubid prince al-Malik al-Ashraf Musa between 1201 and 1229. With the demise of the kilns in the wake of the Mongol sack of the city in 1265, some potters may have moved westwards as evidenced in the survival of the baluster shape and underglaze technique in Damascus pottery production of the ensuing Mamluk period.
These jars are primarily functional vessels used to store and transport spices, foodstuffs and medicinal substances. Unlike the later Damascus jars, many of which were exported and survive in high numbers outside Syria, Raqqa pottery was relatively little known in Europe until the late-nineteenth century when the kiln-site was discovered. Comparable examples are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. no.56.185.21 and the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington (Jenkins-Madina 2006, pp.150-7, esp. MMA41).
These jars are primarily functional vessels used to store and transport spices, foodstuffs and medicinal substances. Unlike the later Damascus jars, many of which were exported and survive in high numbers outside Syria, Raqqa pottery was relatively little known in Europe until the late-nineteenth century when the kiln-site was discovered. Comparable examples are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. no.56.185.21 and the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington (Jenkins-Madina 2006, pp.150-7, esp. MMA41).