Ewer with Rooster Head

ca.1200

On View

Islamic, Level 1, North Wing

Ewer with Rooster Head: 1 of Collection Gallery

Ewer with Rooster Head: 2 of Collection Gallery

Ewer with Rooster Head: 3 of Collection Gallery

Ewer with Rooster Head: 4 of Collection Gallery

Ewer with Rooster Head: 5 of Collection Gallery

Ewer with Rooster Head: 6 of Collection Gallery

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About the Artwork

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Markings

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Provenance

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Exhibition History

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

When a server poured drinks from this rooster-headed ewer, the effect must have delighted guests. As the pourer grasped the vessel’s tail-shaped handle, the beverage would have flowed from the opening in the beak.
To create the ewer, potters made a solid inner layer to hold the liquid contents and a decorative outer shell with carved openwork. Painting sphinxes, spotted deer, and harpies (birds with the heads of human women) amid a swirling background, they articulated details with black slip (liquid clay) before covering the vessel in a turquoise glaze. These specialized techniques, requiring great skill, made this work an expensive luxury object.

Title Ewer with Rooster Head

Artwork Date ca.1200

Artist ----------

Life Dates ----------

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Iranian

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Underglaze slip-painted fritware

Dimensions Overall: 10 3/4 × 6 3/4 × 6 inches (27.3 × 17.1 × 15.2 cm)

Classification Ceramics

Department Islamic Art

Credit Founders Society Purchase with funds from Founders Junior Council, Henry Ford II Fund, Benson and Edith Ford Fund, J. Lawrence Buell, Jr. Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 1989.34

Markings

Inscriptions [Naskhi inscriptions around the neck and base]

Provenance

(Said Motamed, Frankfurt, Germany);
1989-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

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Published References

Bulletin of the DIA 65, no. 2/3 (1989): p. 9, (fig. 6).

Henshaw, Julia P., ed. A Visitors Guide: The Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1995, p. 123 (ill.).

Komaroff, Linda, ed. Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting. Exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles, 2023, pp. 240-241, cat. no. 71a (ill.).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Iranian, Ewer with Rooster Head, ca.1200, underglaze slip-painted fritware. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase with funds from Founders Junior Council, Henry Ford II Fund, et al., 1989.34.