Near East/Holy Land, Byzantine Empire, ca. 13th century CE. A gathering of 3 pottery bowls with a decorated interior that is incised with birds and linear patterning. The bowls are very similar, they rest on a ring foot and the broad dish flares upward to a thick rim and shallow basin. Several narrow bands of repeated wavy and triangular motifs encircle the interior body, with an interlocking or spade shaped abstract floral motif in tondo. Remains the white glaze is still present over much of the interior surface. Byzantine pottery workshops that created glazed ware for domestic use based their designs on vessels made of silver or other precious metals. They used the technique called sgraffito, with the design incised through a white slip coating to reveal the red clay body beneath. These bowls were made and exported throughout the Empire, and have been found in numerous shipwrecks, especially in the Aegean Sea - the mineral encrustations from marine creatures attests to their time spent underwater. Size of largest: 10.25" W x 3.25" H (26 cm x 8.3 cm)

Provenance: East Coast collection, New York Gallery, New York City, New York, USA, acquired before 2010

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#166069

Medium-sized bowl is repaired from multiple pieces with small chips and light adhesive residue along break lines; smallest and largest bowls are intact and very good. Each bowl has nicks to foot and rim, with expected sea encrustations, and softening to incised details within basin. Nice encrustations throughout.