<em>Small Vase</em>, 13th century. Ceramic, fritware, 4 3/4 x 4 3/4 x 4 1/4 in. (12 x 12 x 10.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Frederic B. Pratt, 36.944. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 36.944_view01_PS9.jpg)

Small Vase, 13th century. Ceramic, fritware, 4 3/4 x 4 3/4 x 4 1/4 in. (12 x 12 x 10.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Frederic B. Pratt, 36.944. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 36.944_view01_PS9.jpg)

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Can you tell me about the vibrant blue glaze on the small vase? Why is it so much brighter than the other pots? Do you know about the firing process?

Sure. The body of the vessel was decorated with black pigment and then covered with a transparent turquoise glaze likely colored with copper oxides.

Black and turquoise ware is typical of Raqqa ceramics from this period as potters took advantage of the fritware body to provide a white background and the stability of the black pigment to execute a crisp design. Other vessels in this display are rejects or mistakes that, therefore, do not show the same level of finish.

Small Vase

Arts of the Islamic World

On View: Arts of the Islamic World, 2nd floor

Wasters, or ceramic products damaged during the firing process and therefore discarded as waste near the original kilns. Excavations by the Ottoman Imperial Museum in 1906 and 1908, by chance conducted near the thirteenth-century kilns, most likely exposed the buried wasters.

MEDIUM Ceramic, fritware

Place Made: Raqqa, Syria

DATES 13th century

PERIOD Ayyubid

DIMENSIONS 4 3/4 x 4 3/4 x 4 1/4 in. (12 x 12 x 10.8 cm) Diameter at mouth: 2 1/16 in. (5.2 cm) Thickness of rim: 3/16 in. (0.4 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Arts of the Islamic World

ACCESSION NUMBER 36.944

CREDIT LINE Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Frederic B. Pratt

PROVENANCE Prior to 1936, provenance not yet documented; by 1936, acquired by Frederic B. Pratt and Caroline Ames Ladd Pratt (Mrs. Frederic B. Pratt); 1936, gift of Frederic B. Pratt and Caroline Ames Ladd Pratt to the Brooklyn Museum.

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EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Arts of the Islamic World, 2nd floor

CAPTION Small Vase, 13th century. Ceramic, fritware, 4 3/4 x 4 3/4 x 4 1/4 in. (12 x 12 x 10.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Frederic B. Pratt, 36.944. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 36.944_view01_PS9.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 36.944_view01_PS9.jpg., 2018

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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

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