Condition
Fully preserved; heavily weathered.
Description
Fire-polished, slightly in-turned, vertical rim; wide, cylindrical neck, severely constricted at its base; horizontal shoulder; biconical body with larger and slightly convex upper part and smaller and concave lower part; conical, folded base-ring; concave bottom. At the center of the bottom is the scar (W. 0.8 cm) of a solid pontil. The vessel is slightly lopsided. The tip of the rim is topped with an opaque green trail. On the neck and body from rim to base are incised about 22 horizontal bands (0.4 cm wide) composed of fine incisions, leaving void bands 0.4 cm wide. A zigzag pattern is visible around the bottom of the neck.
Comments and Comparanda
Probably the zigzag pattern, or rather the small triangles between which the zigzag is now visible, was covered with some substance, such as gold foil, that left the surface under it smooth and unaffected by the weathering that has covered the vessel in general. Note the traces of gilding in the incised lines of two of the six deep-blue, ninth-century plates found in the crypt of Famen Temple (Famensi) in Shaanxi Province, China: An, Jiayao. 1991. “Dated Islamic Glass in China.” Bulletin of the Asia Institute, n.s. 5: 123–127., pp. 123–124, figs. 3–8; compare Michaelson, Carol. 1999. Gilded Dragons: Buried Treasures from China’s Golden Ages, exh. cat. British Museum. London. https://archive.org/details/gildeddragonsbur0000mich/mode/2up, pp. 158–159, no. 115.
For an opaque red vessel with very similar body shape dated in the twelfth–thirteenth century or later, see Whitehouse, David B. 2014. Islamic Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass, vol. 2. Corning, NY: Corning Museum of Glass., p. 444, no. 661.
Provenance
By 1911–1924, Frank Gair Macomber, American, 1849–1941 [sold, American Art Galleries, February 27, 1924, lot 42]; 1933, Emile Tabbagh, 1879–1933; 1933–1936, Estate of Emile Tabbagh, 1879–1933 [sold, Anderson Galleries, New York, January 3, 1936, lot 23]; 1940, Harry Leonard Simmons [sold, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, April 5, 1940, lot 118, through French and Co. to J. Paul Getty]; 1940–1976, J. Paul Getty, American, 1892–1976, upon his death, held in trust by the estate; 1976–1981, Estate of J. Paul Getty, American, 1892–1976, distributed to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1981
Bibliography
American Art Galleries, New York. Illustrated Catalogue of the Frank Gair Macomber Collection: Near Eastern Art. February 27, 1924, sale cat. New York: American Art Association., lot 42.
Anderson Galleries. 1936c. Property of the Estate of the Late Emile Tabbagh, Paris and New York. To Be Dispersed at Public Sale by Order of the Executors. January 3 and 4, 1936, sale cat. New York: American Art Association, Anderson Galleries., lot 23, ill.
Paintings by Contemporary Artists: Brackman, Corbino, Philipp, Pushman, Lebduska, and Other Works by an Older Generation of Artists. Other Art Objects from the Collection of H. Leonard Simmons, New York, Sold by His Order: Public Sale, Paintings, April 4–5, 1940, sale cat. New York: Parke-Bernet Galleries., lot 118, ill.
Exhibitions
None