Antelope bowl

This bowl was discovered at the Sabra al-Mansuriyya digs during the 1950s. The flat-bottomed vessel stands out by its streamlined shape. It is adorned with green and brown paint on a yellow background. On the outer wall of the bowl, registers bearing fish motifs alternate with green bands grouped in threes that extend to the inner rim. Stripe and streak motifs, recurrent from the beginning of Islam on glazed ceramics, spread as far as Spain. The fish motif, frequently used in pre-Islamic Christian circles, in the Coptic world and Ifriqiyan world alike, later took on a prophylactic connotation, still observed to this day in Tunisia.

The main motif on the obverse of the bowl is a very elegant antelope with a supple body, ample curves and very slim legs, its graceful head sporting a goatee and turned toward the back, a very common pose in depictions of animals by artists of the Islamic world. The overall bearing, process and insertion of the animal in the circular frame of the bowl are the result of the pursuit of balance and harmony between the container and the contents. The single fleurons that emerge from the back leg, front leg and mouth emphasize the rotational dynamic of the movement. A saddle or a simple blanket covers the back of the animal. The space surrounding the beast is adorned with stylised fleurons and a flowery kufic inscription that is difficult to decipher. The use of checkering to cover the body of the animal is very particular to Ifriqiyan ceramics of the period.

The balance between the three colours – green, ochre and brown – generally characteristic of Ifriqiyan ceramics, is here altered, in as much as brown, instead of being used to contour the motifs or to colour a few small elements, is the predominant colour.

The antelope, a very common animal in the dry climates of the Islamic world, can symbolise health, strength and fertility. It appears on a fragment of a basin found at Carthage, attributable to the end of the eleventh century[1], on shards from the Banu Hammad Qala'a in Algeria and in many ornamentations on ceramics and glass from Fatimid Egypt[2]. It is also attested in Andalusia, such as on a beautiful eleventh century bowl from Mértola, Portugal[3], which some archaeologists attribute to an Ifriqiyan workshop.

This ornamentation is found on thirteenth century Paterna tiles and is even a favourite motif for Spanish lustre ceramics from Valencia[4]. Moreover, the floral and pseudo-epigraphic ornamentation bears a striking resemblance with that of several ceramic pieces from the Banu Hammad Qala'a[5] and of Spain.

[2] Fragment of lustre glass embellished with a gazelle holding a fleuroned branch, Egypt, eleventh century, Cairo, Museum of Islamic Arts, Inv. 14519.

[3] Glazed ceramic ataifor made of yellow clay, eleventh century, Museum of Mértola, Inv. CR/VM /0001.

[4] It can in fact be observed on several fourteenth century pieces conserved at the Louvre Museum (Inv. OA9001) and at the Musée de Sèvres (Inv. 15475). It also appears on Aragonese and Catalan pieces, examples of which are conserved at the Museum of fine arts of Lyon (Inv. E538-35 and D329).

[5] Shard of ceramic painted over glaze from the Banu Hammad Qala, eleventh century, conserved at the Musée national de Sétif, Algeria, Inv. IS. 02.