Jug with Four Horsemen

Mina’i is a modern collectors’ term for ceramics made in Iran during the late 12th to early 13th centuries. The term mina’i, translates as “enamelled” in Persian, designating the colored glass pigments used to paint detailed figural decoration on vessels or tiles, which were then fixed on the ceramic base by multiple firings. The use of a wide range of colors, including turquoise, red, green, purple, and black, also led these types of ceramics to be called by the Persian term “haft rang,” or “seven colors.”
Mina’i ware scenes often depict courtly pursuits, such as feasting, fighting, or poetry and music performances. These colorful compositions created complex narrative scenes which paralleled manuscript painting. These colorful compositions created complex narrative scenes which paralleled manuscript painting. Four horsemen, each individually detailed, are framed by geometric patterns and stylized vines. A kufic inscription around the inner rim of the jug invites a gaze inward, where a stylized flower has been painted along the bottom of the jug. A kufic inscription on a blue background along the outer rim and around the lower half of the jug frame the riders.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Dikran Kelekian, New York and Paris, [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, [date of acquisition unknown], by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.