So-Called Crusader Bowl
1 media/So-Called Crusader Bowl_thumb.png 2022-11-21T18:07:19-08:00 Abigail Koczko 64292fb6d9ec48a944d80c9b5c10c6d257aea1f9 39447 1 So-called Crusader’s Bowl, made in Egypt (?), ca. 1000–1100. Metal (15.75 cm). Cambridge, MA, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of The Hagop Kevorkian Foundation in memory of Hagop Kevorkian, 1975.41.143. Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College. plain 2022-11-21T18:07:19-08:00 Abigail Koczko 64292fb6d9ec48a944d80c9b5c10c6d257aea1f9This page is referenced by:
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2022-06-15T11:40:38-07:00
Who made this?
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Abigail Koczko
plain
2022-11-21T19:06:25-08:00
This bowl is thought to be a product of a Byzantine artist, most likely a Turkish one. Turkey during this period was also known as the region of Anatolia. Given the nature of the Byzantine empire in the thirteenth through the fourteenth centuries, Turkey was assimilated under the Seljuk Turk's inherently Islamic rule. Because the Seljuk rule was centered around Islam, this piece of art must have been inspired by Turkish art of the time, which would have been Islamic. Similarly, due to the piece's composition, the ceramic bowl would have been constructed by a non-Arab person due to the pseudo form of Arabic is present on the bowl. There were likely many groups of Crusader Christians living in Byzantium, Turkey, during this time who could have been sourced to create the bowl.
This so-called "Crusader Bowl," made in the eleventh-twelveth century, depicts Islamic and Christian motifs that hint that a Byzantine or Christian Crusader artist created the bowl. The pseudo-Arabic described on the second register of the bowl is the Islamic motif present in the bowl. The Christian motif is present through the "pattern of crosses framed by circles with vertical tendrils in the interstices." TheIslamic influences may hint that this bowl was created and used by Islamic communities, but the context of the Christian motif hints that this bowl was used within the local Christian communities of the Byzantine empire.
From the ninth century forward, Arabic pseudo inscriptions signaled the Islamic influence the Crusades had on Byzantine artists traveling to the Holy Land during the Crusades. Many Eastern Christian sects, including the Melkites and the Copts, regularly commissioned objects with pseudo-Arabic inscriptions in religious settings. This cup may also have a Crusader affiliation since most of those entering the Holy Land during this time were soldiers fighting the Holy War.
Similarly, the "Byzantine or Crusader Bowl" was most likely commissioned by a Christian group living within the Byzantine empire, as evidenced by the pseudo-Arabic inscriptions. Additionally, the bowl may have been made by a Crusader. Still, due to the level of intricacy of the bowl, it was most likely made by a Byzantine artist who had inspiration from the increased Western and Islamic influences that the Crusades ushered in.
