Information from museums

Following the advice of Rachel Barclay from the Oriental Museum in Durham I explored the Metropolitan Museum's archive of essays relating to Persian Pottery to find more information about the art form as well as the V&A's collection of Persian Pottery.















Source

From a quick search of the V&A museum, it was immediately clear how much Henry Van den Bergh has contributed to their collection. This bowl pictured above is part of a series of objects that were donated by Henry Van den Bergh in his will to the V&A in 1947. c.36-39-1947. Among his Persian pottery collection he also donated 6 ceramics objects to the British Museum and 7 objects to the National Art Collection Fund. As a comparison piece, this bowl was incredibly interesting to look at. It is also made from fritware, with carved and underglaze painted decoration, Iran (Kashan), late 12th to early 13th century. This will be covered further in my comparison post with other Persian pottery from a similar time.

I have split the following research into three posts:
Calligraphy in Islamic Art
Geometry in Islamic Art
Vegetational imagery in Islamic Art

I have also just received feedback on my Research Proposal, and along with it Dr Parton has added some interesting questions add to my research. I will be attempting to answer these in the next couple of weeks and am excited to see where my research takes me.

Questions raised by this new information, and steps to take from here:

1. What was the function of the bowl or to what market was it aimed?

2. To what extent are the other 8 ceramics related to your chosen object? It is a good idea to see if you can find comparative objects - have you found any useful or similar pieces as yet?

3. As regards the calligraphy, can you find an expert or a Persian speaker who might be able to read it and translate it? This may help illuminate the function of the bowl.

Research proposal

Bowl, Pottery, Iran
Mid 13th Century CE
Gift from the Art Fund from the bequest of Henry Van der Bergh
DUROM.1983.24

The 'Object of Desire' that I have chosen is 'a deep bowl on circular foot decorated blue ground (turquoise glaze), with gold and black with foliage and interlaced scrollwork on a strapwork ground'.

The 'gilt foliage decorating the interior of this exquisite bowl combined the beauty of representational art with the elegance of geometry' is typical of much Iranian art work. Although the bowl is reconstructed from fragments, with some areas missing including two interior sections and two rim sections, it is still in fairly good condition - in fact this fragmentation allows us to delve deeper into the technical details used to construct the bowl. Its function is unknown and undocumented, however likely to be purely decorative.

The bowl itself came to the Durham Oriental Museum as part of a collection of 9 pots at the bequest of Henry Van der Bergh, and hails from the mid-13th Century CE. It has a diameter of 7 inches and is made of a medium called Fritware with Minai-Lajuardina decoration, with the style a transition between the two techniques. There is one area of dark yellow staining on the outside, and several similar smaller areas on the inside.

On first look around the museum, there were a couple of objects that piqued my interest. However, none more than this stunning turquoise bowl. The color was immediately eye catching to me, and having had a long-standing interest with Islamic and Persian art, I knew that the history behind it was likely to be personally fascinating. On deeper reflection, the fragmentation of the bowl really appealed to me, as it seemed to suggest a deeper history, and the chance to delve into this really excited me.

I organized a meeting with Rachel Barclay at the Oriental Museum as soon as I was decided on my object, to enquire some more about the bowl in question. She was kind enough to supply me with the full history on file about the bowl, as well as some surrounding documentation about how it, and the 8 other pieces of connected pottery, came to be a part of the permanent collection here in Durham. She also pointed out some useful sources of information surrounding the history and period the bowl came from to further explore the genre, techniques and themes that surrounded it's creation.

The existing information that the museum holds on my object is rather limited. We know the period in which it was produced, but not the artist, which could potentially be problematic in my research as it could give further detail and clarification about the history of the bowl. The style, paint and calligraphy decorating the bowl, however, are all details which can be researched further and likely to throw up some interesting themes to explore. After choosing my object, I have also written to the NACF to see whether they have any more details to supply me with and intend to research previous owners in further detail.

In terms of wider reading and research I have put together a bibliography to begin reading. The University Library, Jstor and Metropolitan Museum website all have many books, articles and essays available, and fascinating resources which I shall try and put to good use. In terms of further sources, the 8 other pieces of pottery which the bowl arrived with will serve as excellent points of comparison. I also intend on extending my research further with reference to the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, The Met and the V&A from past trips and during the Christmas break. Rachel has also suggested looking at the online resources of V&A website, which has a comprehensive list of reading for me to carry out.

There are a number of interesting ways to approach the object, however I would like to explore the bowl specifically in terms of the following topics:

• Techniques 
• Ceramics 
• Colour 
• Decorative motifs 
• Calligraphy 
• pre-Islamic art and the spread of Islam 
• Repairs and damage 

At this initial juncture, the problem that I am most likely to face are limited documentation on the origins and history of this bowl, because of its date of construction. I am also likely to face difficulty as I do not speak Iranian, and this may make translation of any primary sources, and the inscription on the bowl difficult. However, I have found a variety of English sources that I can utilize. The final problem that I may face is the lack of information who the bowl was procured by and owned by, Henry Van der Bergh and Elizabeth Roskill. To begin my project, I will read secondary literature to develop my knowledge on the background and art form of the object, and then will arrange another meeting with Rachel to begin a more detailed and hands-on analysis of the object itself.

Purpose of the blog

This blog will form the research log for my 'Objects of Desire' History of Art module at Durham University, to form the basis for the audio-visual podcast that I will then create with my findings. For my project, I have selected an Iranian bowl from the Durham Oriental Museum, which I intend to research the provenance, origins and wider genre of.

This blog will be a central hub for the gathering of all the materials and information that I collate. The six main aims of the log will be to:

1. record research questions; 
2. record research interventions; 
3. record possible answers established by my research; 
4. provide a rationale for the form and content of my podcast 
5. show a reflective analysis 
6. record my bibliography/ and or sources for my research. 

The blog entries should appear in chronological order which will make it easier to follow. The main course components (Research Proposal, Research Questions, Rationale, Reflective Analysis and Bibliography can all be found under the tagged section)