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• 1 2022-06-15T11:55:58-07:00 Where was this produced? 19 plain 2023-01-15T10:22:47-08:00
  It is likely that this bowl was made in or near Chersonesus, an ancient city off the Black Sea that was long controlled by medieval Byzantium. In the map above, Chersonesus is indicated with a red star. The distinct slip-painting of the outside of the bowl was characteristic of this area. This ancient city is in modern-day Ukraine, and just as this region plays a significant role in production and exportation from the Black Sea today, the ancient city of Chersonese also was a major producer and exporter of portable goods during the crusades. The Black Sea serves as the link between eastern Europe and the rest of world markets from the eastern Mediterranean, a persistently invaluable trading place.
  The map above shows parts of the Byzantine empire, like Anatolia (modern day Turkey) and the Chersonese region on the Black Sea. 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. 
• 1 media/img-9-small517.jpg 2022-06-15T11:56:06-07:00 Where did this go? 13 image_header 2023-01-15T10:44:42-08:00 Where our harpy bowl started:
  Where our harpy bowl ended up:
  The bowl's journey (~1250-1958):
  Ceramic bowls are portable and were regularly traded along extensive trade routes in the eastern Mediterranean. This is especially true for our bowl, made near the port city, Chersonesus. Many shipwrecks within the Black Sea are dated back to the twelfth and thirteenth century. Ceramics that moved on ships over the Black Sea are similar in their technique to our harpy bowl. Here is an example of a Byzantine bowl from the 11th-13th century that was found in a shipwreck along a major Byzantine trade route.
  
  Our harpy bowl may have been exported by ship to a faraway medieval purchaser, or it could have used by a medieval buyer in Chersonesus. In 1958 this bowl was purchased by Dumbarton Oaks from the art dealer and collector, George Zacos. Mr. Zacos may have purchased the bowl somewhere in Turkey, perhaps in Istanbul. Mr. Zacos sold many Byzantine artifacts to museums like Dumbarton Oaks, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the British Museum.
  
• 1 2022-06-15T11:55:39-07:00 Who made this? 13 plain 2023-01-15T10:14:14-08:00
  This bowl was probably made in the Black Sea region, perhaps by a Byzantine potter in a Chersonese workshop. As this region opened up to diverse groups of people who were primarily Muslim during the crusades, Byzantine and Islamic culture began to collide. Islamic visual traditions and motifs were adopted by Byzantine potters; for example, the elegant harpy figure on this bowl is primarily an Islamic motif. Aspects of the design and patterns, like the spirals on the back of this bowl and on the legs of the harpy, are also typical of Islamic design. However, the circular and linear designs that describes the feathers on this bowl and the other example from the Karatay Madrasa Tile Works Museum are typical of Byzantine design. The maker of this bowl inhabited a region that had long been under Byzantine control, and the maker of this bowl was also strongly interested in Islamic traditions.