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Today at the Museum

May 18, 2013

Design for Living: Gustav Stickley and The Craftsman Magazine

2 – 3 p.m.
Friends Community Room

Lecturer: Debra Hegstrom, PhD Gustav Stickley disseminated ideas about domesticity and the role of the American homemaker through his magazine, The Craftsman (published 1901-1916). The influence of The Craftsman continues today in magazi...

Bowl
Title:Bowl
Artist:Artist Unknown
Date:Seljuk period
Creation Place:, Persia (Iran)
Credit Line:The William Hood Dunwoody Fund
Accession Number:32.32.7
This exceptionally fine bowl shows a courtly scene. An enthroned personage in the central medallion is accompanied by two attendants; ten smaller figures surround the medallion, and the next tier is a row of sixteen even smaller figures. Kufic script decorates the outside of the rim. Minai is the name for this type of overglaze-painted ware. The human, animal, arabesque, and calligraphic themes of minai ware were often comparable to the subjects that miniaturists painted for texts, and several examples directly relate to the stories in illustrated books. The museum owns an outstanding group of minai bowls, including an example of the less common variant with designs executed on a turquoise ground.