Dish Late 12th/early 13th century

This earthenware dish of unknown date was made by an anonymous artist. The stylized seated figure is the dominant feature in the design, her elaborate headdress suggesting a person of importance, perhaps royalty. Her social status would have afforded her this luxury item, a vessel for serving food or displaying wealth. The elaborate decoration makes this more than just functional. The location where it was made and used, somewhere in the Islamic world, would have placed it in the orbit of complex trade networks, courtly patronage, and craft production. As an art historian I’m interested in the story it tells us about the culture that produced it. To fully understand this dish, I would look to historical texts, archaeological findings, and comparative analyses of similar objects to learn more about the society from which it came. Its survival is now contingent on the institutions of the modern museum.