Bowl with Fighting Horsemen, Armed Figures, and Sphinx

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. This footed bowl’s interior features a central figure on horseback, framed by two armed figures hoisting weapons. With seated figures above the horseman, surrounded by stylized vines, and two sphinxes detailed beneath the fighting figures, this bowl is an example of bazm wa razm, or feasting and fighting. The combination of leisurely activities with more warrior-like occupations, such as hunting, was frequently used in the medieval Persian iconography of kingship. A kufic inscription surrounds the upper rim of the bowl while the exterior is adorned with a naskhi inscription.

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, 1927, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.