Where did this go?
Where our Harpy bowl ended up:
The bowl's journey (~1250- 1958):
Ceramic bowls are easily portable objects and therefore were often common items that were traded within the extensive trading routes in the eastern Mediterranean, especially for our bowl that was made in the port city, Chersonese. In fact, many shipwrecks within the Black Sea are dated back to the 12th and 13th century of ships harboring ceramic ware from these Byzantine areas. Imported ceramics that moved on ships over the Black Sea that are similar in their technique and distinct outside slip-painting as our harpy bowl has been found in places like Constantinople, and Trebizond. Here, to the right, is a great example of a Byzantine bowl dated back to the 11th-13th century that was found in a ship wreck along a major Byzantine trade route. The green appearance of parts of the bowl are most likely the result of being submerged in sea water for such a long time.
It is unknown where this specific harpy bowl may have been exported to or if it was an exported bowl. It is possible that it could have been domestic and used by someone in Chersonese. Our harpy bowl was acquisitioned by Dumbarton Oaks in 1958 from the art dealer, George Zacos who sold many Byzantine artifacts from Turkey and Istanbul to museums like Dumbarton Oaks and the MET. It is not specified where Zacos recovered this specific bowl, but it is most likely in Turkey or Istanbul. Zacos sold this harpy bowl to Dumbarton Oaks in 1958. The bowl started in its home, Chersonese and somehow ended up in Turkey or Istanbul where George Zacos acquired it in about the 1950s. In 1958, Dumbarton Oaks bought the bowl from Zacos and the bowl was brought to its current home in Washington DC.