  About the Artwork
  
  
  The elaborate gilded and enameled glass commissioned for the sultan tended to overshadow more humble products. Undecorated vessels of colorless, transparent glass are, nonetheless, objects of refinement. This pitcher’s graceful spout, sloping angular body, and its rainbowlike iridescence (produced by acids in the soil acting on the glass surface when later buried) combine to create an object of quiet elegance.
  
  
  Title
  Spouted Vessel
  
  
  Artwork Date
  1100s
  
  Artist
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  Life Dates
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  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.
  
  
  
  Syrian
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Glass
  
  
  Dimensions
  Overall: 5 1/4 × 3 7/16 × 4 inches (13.3 × 8.7 × 10.2 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Glass
  
  
  Department
  Islamic Art
  
  
  Credit
  Founders Society Purchase, Antiquaries Fund and the Cleo and Lester Gruber 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.
  
  
  
  1987.78
  
  
  Copyright
  Public Domain
