Bowl with Horseman and Winged Sphinxes

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. The combination of leisurely activities with more warrior-like occupations, such as hunting, was frequently used in the medieval Persian iconography of kingship. This is referred to as bazm wa razm, or feasting and fighting.
A mounted horseman marks the center of this footed bowl, surrounded by a lush, stylized floral and vine motif. Stylized floral motifs woven amid the kufic script around the middle register of the bowl, and a band of winged sphinx encircle the inner rim and further the impression of a garden environment. A kufic inscription encircles the outer rim of the bowl, with stylized leaves mixed within the script as well as adorning the exterior body of the bowl.

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, 1925, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.