What is AAT?
The Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) (r) is a structured vocabulary for generic concepts related to art and architecture. It was developed by The Getty Research Institute to help research institutions become consistent in the terminology they use.Learn More
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Description
Primary Description:
Translucent pale green over colorless. Blown, cased; relief-cut, drilled; handle applied. Ewer with pear-shaped body. Rim plain, outsplayed, with oval mouth and pointed pouring lip; neck narrow; foot hollow, splayed; ribbon handle attached to lower part of body and rim. Decorated in relief: one band on lip; two bands on neck, one curving up toward pouring lip; panel with birds and animals on body, defined at top by border with superficial incised crosses alternating with deeper printies, and at bottom by plain line that turns up at extremities and follows line of handle until it meets upper border; inside panel, pair of opposed, regardant horned quadrupeds with crossed forelegs, each with bird of prey perched on rump and pecking at back of neck; behind these, at each edge of panel, parrot-like bird on branch, its back to bird of prey and head turned back over shoulder, with scrolling palmette spray in beak; hind leg joints of animals and wing coverts of raptors terminate in half-palmettes; bodies of animals and raptors enlivened with printies; behind handle, green overlay cut in tall, tapering form; lower end of handle cut in relief with heart-shaped palmette above two volutes; at highest point of handle, remains of elaborate bifurcated thumb-rest.
Exhibitions (3)

Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting at the Islamic Courts
Venue(s)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Dining with the Sultan is a pan-Islamic exhibition that will span the eighth through nineteenth centuries (and perhaps beyond) and include some 150 works of art representing a rich variety of media from three continents. We expect this to be a transformative exhibition, one emphasizing our shared humanity rather than our singular histories. It will follow the model of LACMA’s 2011 exhibition Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts. It similarly will introduce an American audience to Islamic art and culture with objects of undisputed quality and appeal, only this time viewed through the universal lens of fine dining. In considering the admittedly very substantial and diffuse theme of feasting at the Islamic courts, preliminary research has led us to cast as wide a net as possible in terms of both the time frame and the concept of “fine dining.” The resources that inform this study so far are two-fold:
1) Rich textual sources, including a broad array of cook books and books of delicacies, texts on etiquette, instructions for princes, royal memoirs, collections of food poetry and parody, dynastic histories, endowment deeds, kitchen accounts, dietetic and medicinal works, travelers’ narratives, and diplomatic reports and communiqués.
2) Works of art that can be identified from their inscriptions or specific shapes as containers and receptacles for food or beverage, or are associated with preparing and serving food, or else those works that are similar to examples described by the written sources, as well as works of art, primarily manuscript illustrations, which depict food preparation and dining.
Clearly it is the second category that primarily will provide the visual focus (the flesh, so to speak) of the exhibition, while the first will supply the documentary framework (the bones, as it were) as conveyed through didactic materials and especially the exhibition catalogue. The sheer quantity of primary sources and the large number of relevant first-rate works of art together indicate the importance of food culture at the Islamic courts.
The exhibition, which is in preparation for 2023, will require between 6,000-8,000 sf. It will be organized primarily by sub-themes, which will include topics such as coffee culture in the Ottoman era, outdoor feasting or picnicking, and the continuity of Late Antique/Persian royal cuisine and etiquette at the early Islamic courts. At LACMA, the installation will include our 18th-century Damascus Room in order to suggest the types of architectural spaces used for receiving and feasting family and honored guests.
On a popular level, the exhibition will stimulate not only the eyes but the appetite, reminding visitors of the commonly shared pleasure of food—both its taste and its presentation; on a scholarly level the exhibition will provide much needed information on the enormous class of luxury objects that may be broadly defined as tableware, while also demonstrating how gustatory discernment was a fundamental activity at the great Islamic courts.

Glass of the Sultans
Venue(s)
Benaki Museum
Corning Museum of Glass
Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Arts of Islam
Venue(s)
Hayward Gallery 1976 through 1976
Publications (68)
Raptor On the Fist: Falconry, Its Imagery and Similar Motifs Throughout the Millenia On a Global Scale (2020)
pv. 2, p. 619 (fig. 8);
Ancient and Islamic Glass: Selections from the Corning Museum of Glass (2019)
illustrated, pp. 108-109;
The Decanter: Ancient to Modern (2018)
illustrated, p. 68 (fig. 1);
Contemporary Glass Vessels: Selections from the Corning Museum of Glass (2015)
illustrated, p. 18 (fig. 20);
BIB# 149403
Islamic Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass Volume One (2010)
illustrated, Cover; pp. 296-300, #522;
BIB# 113723
Islamic Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass Volume One (2010)
illustrated, Cover; pp. 296-300, #522;
BIB# 113723
Yi shu bo li he zhuang shi bo li (Artistic Glass and Decorative Glass) (2009)
illustrated, p. 110, pl. 2 (fig. 5-12a);
BIB# 166455
Tesori del Vetro al Corning Museum of Glass (2005-12)
illustrated, pp. 16-31; p. 21, fig. 5;
BIB# AI67739
Akantas (2004)
illustrated, p. 13;
Early Islamic Cameo Glass in The Corning Museum of Glass (2003)
illustrated, Cover; p. 149, fig. 1;
BIB# AI57285
Glass in the Islamic World (2001)
illustrated, [p. 4, bottom];
Glass of the Sultans (American Craft Magazine) (2001)
pp. 64-65;
The Corning Museum of Glass, A Guide to the Collections (2001) (2001)
illustrated, p. 55;
BIB# 68214
Glass of the Sultans (2001)
illustrated, p. 105, top;
Treasures from The Corning Museum of Glass: Checklist of the Exhibition (1999)
illustrated, p. 16;
BIB# 63967
The Corning Ewer: A Masterpiece of Islamic Cameo glass (1993)
illustrated, pp. 48-51, figs. 1-5;
The Corning Museum of Glass and the Finger Lakes Region (1993)
illustrated, p. 4, #8; pp. 12-13, #20;
BIB# 35681
Masterpieces of Glass: A World History From The Corning Museum of Glass (1990)
illustrated, pp. 72-73, pl. 28;
BIB# 33819
The New Thrust of Corporate Museums (1986-06)
illustrated, p. 42;
Early Treasures Crafted in Glass (1985-07-28)
illustrated
Islamic Art in the United States: The Corning Museum of Glass (1985)
p. 70, ill. p. 67;
Cameo Glass: Masterpieces from 2000 Years of Glassmaking (1982)
illustrated, pp. 34-35, 105, #19;
BIB# 30609
Multimedia (4)

The Corning Ewer
Video