I was at the Metropolitan Museum of Art a couple of weeks ago and I was walking through galleries that hold art of the Islamic world and I was stopped in my tracks by this beautiful gem of a bowl.
It's this tiny little ceramic bowl, but when you look inside it, the entire universe opens up.
This is an exceptional example of Aminati ceramic with gorgeous, finely detailed figures.
Now manai refers to a technique where enamel, that is glass, is ground up and is actually painted on the surface of a fully fired piece of ceramic.
So this is a complicated process.
It would start out with very fine clay being worked and shaped.
It would be carefully dried, and that's an especially hazardous process given how thin the walls of this pot are.
Already, we know this is a luxury object.
Then, of course, the pot is fired.
There's now a second stage of work on this vessel.
The crushed enamel is painted on in these gorgeous colors as well as gold, and then that is fired as well.
It's an over-glaze.
Minai is not the original term that was used to refer to this technique.
We started to use the Persian term minai in the early 20th century.
It means enamel.
But when this bowl was made, the term that would likely have been used to describe it was the Persian word haft ring, meaning seven colors.
And we see a wonderful array of colors in this pot.
In the very center is this brilliant sun with a human face at its center, surrounded by two rings of brilliant gold.
Around this sun are six figures, and these are depictions of the planets.
Just above the sun, we see the planet Mars, which is shown holding a severed head and sword.
And so what we're seeing is a representation of how someone in Iran in the 12th century conceived of the universe, And each of the six personifications of the planets are contained within a blue field, which is further illuminated by little touches of gold, which presumably represent the stars of the heavens.
And so we have these references to astrology.
In the medieval world, astrology was considered a science.
In fact, the Arabic term for astrology is the science of the judgments of the stars.
This kind of imagery was so important because the 12th century owner of such a vessel believed that the movements of the planets and the movements of the stars had a real impact on daily events, on their personality and on their lives.
So it was so important to study the planets and the stars, but also study how they moved and how they might impact your life.
You talked about the movements of the heavens, and I think that is so well represented in this bowl.
With the sun in the center, we can see each of the rings that surround it in motion, the motion of the planets, but then especially of the men on horseback that surround them and move in a counterclockwise direction.
Then you have this decorative band and then on the inside wall of the bowl we have this amazing group of seated figures.
And then even above that text, because this is Arabic and so also moves in a counterclockwise motion.
But to my eye, each of these bands moves at a slightly different pace, creating a sense of energy and motion that recalls the idea of the movement of the heavens.
These bands of horsemen and royal figures and courtiers offer a contrast to the orderly heaven depicted at the center.
These figures are all emblematic of the kinds of pastimes that one might expect members of the court in Iran to have experienced here.
Perhaps the sport of falconry, where we see these horsemen surrounded by birds hunting was a favorite pastime, as well as feasting and listening to music and drinking.
If we look closely in that outer band, you can see musicians.
Just to their left We see a seated figure on a throne, flanked on either side by attendants, and that royal figure on the throne is holding a glass of wine a typical representation of a ruler.
What we're being presented with is a kind of ideal representation of courtly life, where the order of the earthly is reflective of the order of the universe.
This would have been an especially evocative piece for a member of the court.
On the outside is a Nosk script.
It's a curved script and much less angular than the Kufic script within.
The inscription on the outer rim of this bowl is unfortunately fragmentary.
And so we don't know who this bowl was originally made for.
If it did belong to a ruler, this kind of imagery would have reminded the ruler of their position ruling over their territory as well as ruling within an ordered universe, ordered by the stars and the planets.
The inscription on the inner rim of the bowl is also fragmentary, but it includes repeated blessings for the owner of the vessel.
This kind of imagery was especially popular in ceramics, as well as in other media.
We find astrological and courtly motifs in metalwork as well as in manuscripts.
This is a bowl that was clearly meant to be held to enjoy these decorations, to look closely to look more closely, in fact, than we're allowed to in the museum.
But the camera allows us to get up close and through the camera's lens, we can imagine what it would be like to hold it close, to lift it up to our eyes and to explore its incredible imagery, color and textures.
