Port Saint Symeon amphora

This ceramic amphora was made in Port Saint Symeon – located in the Frankish principality of Antioch – shortly before the sack of the city by the Mamluks in 1268. A Crusader community settled there around the late twelfth century, producing its own ceramics.

The amphora features incised decoration, highlighted with malachite green and manganese brown. On the body of this piece, the artist has depicted four hybrid creatures, two on either side. Each pair is separated by a stylised plant motif. One side consists of two fantastic beasts: the figure on the left, holding a goblet in its left hand, combines the body of a leopard with the torso and head of a man, two wings and a tail that ends in the head of a dragon. The second creature has its back to the first creature and also has an elaborate tail, which is relatively stylised. The two figures on the other side of the body face each other. The two creatures have leopards’ bodies topped with human heads and crescent-shaped wings. This is an example of the sphinx iconography that may be found on numerous Islamic ceramic pieces.[1]

Other ceramic pieces of the same type, from Port Saint Symeon, were also decorated with hybrid creatures evoking both centaurs and cupbearers, or Burāq, the mythical animal that served as the Prophet Muhammad’s mount during his night journey (the Miʿrāj). There are also heraldic, royal and astrological representations. All theses figures seem to have been inspired by stories and myths without illustrating any one in particular.

It was during the 1930s excavations that took place in Al-Mina – which means “port” in Arabic and is the current name of Port Saint Symeon – that a large number of glazed ceramics with incised and three-coloured decoration were brought to light. The discovery of kilns and discards attests to the existence of a local workshop producing the type of pottery that archaeologists call Port Saint Symeon ware in reference to the name given by the Crusaders to the port of Antioch. These ceramics are also commonly referred to as Al-Mina ware, renowned for the quality and originality of their decoration. It constitutes Crusader pottery par excellence. From the thirteenth century, it progressively replaced Byzantine pottery, which predominated in the region. Port Saint Symeon ware is characterised by a hybrid style, a mix of Frankish, Islamic and Byzantine traditions. Not all the pottery called “Al-Mina ware” comes from this workshop. In the thirteenth century, other Crusaders in the northern regions of the principality of Antioch and the border towns of the kingdom of Cilician Armenia produced this type of pottery. It was widely distributed as its decoration was designed to appeal to the various cultures – Latin, Orthodox and Muslim – of the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions.