Pitcher

Notice of Upcoming Content and Access Change

The Museum is working on the future of our online collections access. A new version will be available later in 2023. During this transition period, the current version of the Collections Browser may have reduced functionality and data may be not be updated. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. For any questions or concerns, please contact us.

What is AAT?

The Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) (r) is a structured vocabulary for generic concepts related to art and architecture. It was developed by The Getty Research Institute to help research institutions become consistent in the terminology they use.Learn More

Object Name: 
Pitcher
Place Made: 
Accession Number: 
66.1.5
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 16.2 cm, Diam (max): 11.1 cm
Location: 
On Display
Date: 
probably 1100-1399
Web Description: 
This pitcher was decorated by inflating molten glass in a mold. Since glassmaking molds were introduced by the Romans in the early first century A.D., they have been used continuously in Egypt, Western Asia, and elsewhere. No examples of full-size metal molds from the medieval Islamic period are known to exist, but the Corning collection contains one of two surviving metal dip molds. It has an overall pattern of lozenges. The body of the pitcher was blown in a similar dip mold, withdrawn, and inflated further. The neck was tooled, and the handle was applied and pinched. This type of colored mold-blown glass is often attributed to the Gurgan region of northeastern Iran.
Provenance: 
Motamed, Saeed, Source
1966
Category: 
Color: 
Material: 
Primary Description: 
Pitcher. Transparent greenish brown; few obvious bubbles. Body blown in dip mold; handle pincered. Pitcher: cylindrical. Rim has six lobes, with rounded lip; neck cylindrical, with vertical sides, folded near bottom to create raised “collar” (H. 1.3 cm) with three thicknesses of glass; shoulder slopes and has rounded edge; wall straight and tapering slightly, rounded at bottom; base plain, slightly concave; pontil mark large and irregular (max. W. 1.8 cm). Handle with strap-shaped cross section dropped onto bottom of shoulder, drawn up and in, and attached to outside of rim, with semicircular thumb-rest near upper attachment. Handle and thumb-rest pincered with tool that formed two vertical groups of three pyramidal bosses on handle and two bosses on thumb-rest. Bottom of neck (below "collar"), shoulder, wall, and underside of base have overall honeycomb pattern, with individual compartments placed in horizontal rows and arranged in quincunx. At bottom of neck: intermittent row of impressed dots above continuous row of 30 small, rather irregular hexagons. On shoulder: two rows of 30 hexagons. On edge of shoulder and wall: four rows of 30 hexagons above one row of 17 compartments that were stretched along their vertical axis and extend under base. On base, radiating from center: origin of compartment in bottom row on wall, with kite-shaped rather than hexagonal motifs.
Beauty and Belief: Crossing Bridges with the Arts of Islamic Culture
Venue(s)
Brigham Young University Museum of Art 2012-02-24 through 2012-09-29
Indianapolis Museum of Art 2012-11-02 through 2013-01-13
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston 2013-02 through 2013-06
Brooklyn Museum 2013-08 through 2013-11
As the premier art museum in the Mountain West and most attended university art museum in North America, the Brigham Young University Museum of Art (MOA) in Provo, Utah, is the organizing institution for the upcoming exhibition Beauty and Belief: Crossing Bridges with the Arts of Islamic Culture. Renowned Islamic art scholar Dr. Sabiha Al Khemir is serving as Project Director of the exhibition that will feature more than 250 works of art from more than 40 lenders in ten countries and will travel throughout the United States. The exhibition will be on display in the galleries on the main level of the museum.
Glass of the Sultans
Venue(s)
Benaki Museum
Corning Museum of Glass
Metropolitan Museum of Art
 
Liquid Refreshment: 2000 Years of Drinks and Drinking Glasses
Venue(s)
Corning Museum of Glass 1993-04-24 through 1994-12-31
Glass from the Ancient World: So Diverse a Unity
Venue(s)
University of Michigan 1991-04-05 through 1991-05-05
 
Islamic Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass Volume Two (2014) illustrated, p. 95, 101, #779; BIB# 113723
Beauty and Belief: Crossing Bridges with the Arts of Islamic Culture (2012) illustrated, p. 243, upper panel, right; BIB# 127550
Glass: A Short History (Smithsonian Books edition) (2012) illustrated, p. 52; BIB# 130360
Glass: A Short History (The British Museum edition) (2012) illustrated, p. 52; BIB# 135965
Glass of the Sultans (2001) illustrated, pp. 98-99, #25; BIB# 68105
Glass in the Islamic World (2001) illustrated, [p.3, bottom];
Glass from the Ancient World: So Diverse a Unity (1991) illustrated, p. 76, no.50; BIB# 34381