Harpy Bowl
1 media/ObjectKingsand Caliphs_thumb.jpg 2022-11-02T12:52:56-07:00 Grace Toshach dcf49a8866ed9fc88c3e8cd4d25880b73ad42fd8 39447 2 Bowl with Harpy on Interior, in the Black Sea area, 13th century, ceramic (9.2 x 31.7 x 9.2 cm (3 5/8 x 12 1/2 x 3 5/8 in.) Dumbarton Oaks Image © Dumbarton Oaks plain 2022-11-02T13:54:35-07:00 Grace Toshach dcf49a8866ed9fc88c3e8cd4d25880b73ad42fd8This page is referenced by:
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2022-06-16T12:37:12-07:00
When was this made?
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2023-01-15T09:15:10-08:00
This green ceramic harpy bowl was made around the year 1250.
Another eastern Mediterranean harpy bowl made around the same time, from the Victoria and Albert Museum, depicts the harpy wearing a crown that seems to be influenced by an early Sasanian traditions. The Sasanians were pre-Islamic rulers or Persia or Iran. This motif of spreading wings was common imagery used to depict crowns on Sasanian rulers.
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2022-06-15T11:54:29-07:00
What is this?
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2023-01-15T09:08:10-08:00
This brightly colored, green ceramic bowl is decorated with an ornate design and a central figure of a harpy. The creature in the center conveys power and elegance with its highly intricate details and striking depiction.
The front of the bowl is bordered with a repetitive vegetal design and swirling scrolls. This mesmerizing design surrounds and contains the harpy. The harpy engages us directly with piercing almond eyes. She wears a distinct three pointed crown and beaded earrings. Her plumage is decorated with luxurious detail including linear patterns and curling designs. Despite the harpy's elegance, ferocious and vicious talons extend from her feet. Her head is at a tilt and her earrings mirror this tilt, swinging as if she was in motion, possibly just landing or about to take off in flight. She is so powerful that the vines around her sway in different directions.
The back of the bowl contrasts with the front, showing the same colors in inverse. A black background foregrounds large six bright green spirals and hashtag-like designs. The simple design of the back of the bowl allows the front design to shine and be the center of attention.
Historically, in classical Greek tradition, the harpy has appeared as a siren-like creature who lures men to their deaths. However, the harpy on this bowl was inspired by Islamic traditions and suggest health, happiness and prosperity. To learn more about the harpy motif on this bowl click here. -
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2022-06-15T11:56:15-07:00
What does this tell us about the Crusades?
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2023-01-15T11:08:41-08:00
It was the invasions of the Muslim Seljuk Turks into Byzantine territories that led to the call for the First Crusade in 1095. After the Seljuk Turks conquered formerly-Byzantine areas, these areas were also open to diverse peoples from Iran and central Asia who were primarily Muslim. Byzantine inhabitants and their incoming Muslim neighbors often fought but also exchanged ideas and designs, as we see in this bowl. This bowl was probably made in the Black Sea region, perhaps by a Byzantine potter in a Black Sea (Chersonese) workshop. The harpy was a common Islamic motif and now appears on this Byzantine bowl.
The crusades were a time of extensive trade and travel that influenced the art of the European world. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Italian mercantile cities, like Venice, began controlling a lot of Byzantine ceramic trade within the eastern Mediterranean. Shipwrecks reveal the large quantity of ceramics that were traded over long distances.In addition to long-distance trade, it would be easy for a crusader to acquire this artifact at a shop or market in the eastern Mediterranean and bring it back to Europe. Our bowl's unique iconography would refer to their experience in the Holy Land and showcase the crusader's travels there. Ceramics from the eastern Mediterranean would be valuable to a European crusader, acting as a reminder of their crusading experience.