Cleveland Museum of Art

Mina'i Beaker with Seated Princes

Date

1180–1220

Medium

Fritware with overglaze design, mina’i ware

Culture

Iran, Kashan, Seljuq period of Iran (1037–1194)

Department

Islamic Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Mina’i ware takes its name from the Persian word for enamel. It was a luxurious type of pottery and used enamel painting to create true polychrome ceramic for the first time. Mina’i ware frequently combines blues, greens, and purples with sharp black and red executed with precise control. Figural scenes are quite common for these vessels and often recall book illustrations including rows of seated court members, sometimes flanking an enthroned ruler, and princely scenes of hunting or falconry. A band of Kufic runs around the outside of the rim and another one is around the inside of the rim.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.