Where did this bowl go?
By Grace P. Morrissey '22
The Worcester Art Museum acquired this bowl via museum purchase in 1918; however, the bowl's history before this is unclear. Due to the extensive trade and travel that took place during the Crusades, it is evident that this bowl traveled well beyond its site of production in Rayy.
Moving around the Mediterranean, Crusaders acquired various portable works, including luxury textiles, ivory, carvings, and sacred reliquaries. However, they also purchased mass-produced marketplace objects like metalwork, ceramics, and glass. They used these objects during their time on Crusade and subsequently took them back home to Europe. Ceramic bowls, like the WAM's Figural Islamic Bowl, served both a functional and symbolic purpose during the Crusades. These works of lusterware were functional in that they could be eaten out of and used for storage; however, their shimmering surface and Islamic aesthetics connected them to the Holy Land and Crusaders' Islamic encounters.
Similarly, Medieval lists of war booty record gold, silver, jewelry, and luxury textiles but do not refer to ceramics. The final possibility, trade, becomes the most likely. The sheer quantity of Islamic ceramics in European collections suggests that these wares were likely exchanged commercially. Artisans in and around the Holy Land were known to produce wares for sale as lucrative souvenirs for European crusaders, and luster ceramics could fit within this narrative.
