Beaker with Birds

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Object Name: 
Beaker with Birds
Place Made: 
Accession Number: 
59.1.477
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 13.3 cm, Diam (max): 9.7 cm
Location: 
On Display
Date: 
900-1099
Primary Description: 
Colorless. Blown; linear-cut. Beaker shaped like truncated cone, but somewhat lopsided. Rim plain, with top ground flat; wall straight and tapering; base plain; pontil mark (D. 1.3 cm). Small oval area (H. about 7 cm, W. 2.5 cm) in upper part and midsection of wall is flat, not curved (see below). Rather perfunctory linear-cut decoration on wall: one narrow register and one broad register separated by continuous horizontal line. Upper, narrow register begins 3.5 cm below rim; it has pair of continuous horizontal lines at top and contains two bands of short transverse cuts; cuts do not touch one another, but resemble 12 pairs of chevrons or two continuous zigzags. Lower, broad register is divided by four pairs of vertical cuts into two broad and two narrow panels (clockwise): (1) wide panel containing standing bird shown in profile, facing left; it has large, curling crest, crosshatched body, and long tail feathers; (2) narrow panel with geometric decoration that includes large U-shaped motif above smaller element shaped like letter A, but with double V-shaped crossbar; (3) wide panel containing schematic bird shown in profile, facing left; it appears to have open beak and has crosshatched breast; and (4) similar to (2). All cuts are about 0.2 cm wide.
Department: 
Provenance: 
Smith, Ray Winfield (American, 1897-1982), Source
1959-07-27
Category: 
Color: 
Material: 
Les Tresors Fatimides du Caire
Venue(s)
Institut du Monde Arabe 1998-04-27 through 1998-08-30
Kunsthistorisches Museum 1998-10 through 1999-02
Islam and the Medieval West
Venue(s)
University Art Museum, Binghamton 1975 through 1975
 
Islamic Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass Volume One (2010) illustrated, p. 106, #166; BIB# 113723
Schatze der Kalifen: Islamische Kunst zur Fatimidenzeit (1998) illustrated, p. 196, cat. # 180; p. 199; BIB# 96403
Islam and the Medieval West (1975) illustrated, no. G3; BIB# 18974