Bowl with Enthroned Figure, Courtiers, and Harpies

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.”
These colorful compositions created complex narrative scenes which paralleled manuscript painting. Mina’i ware scenes often depict courtly pursuits, such as feasting, fighting, or poetry and music performances. The combination of leisurely activities with more warrior-like occupations, such as the hunt, was frequently used in the medieval Persian iconography of kingship. The royal figure depicted here is seen seated on a central throne. He is surrounded by one courtier on either side, their heads slightly bent in a gesture of deference. This courtly scene is surrounding by a running band of six harpies. The inscription on the inner rim is in kufic. The cursive inscription on the bowl’s exterior is written in calligraphic style of naskhi.

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, 1928, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.