Covered Jar (Albarello)

Storage Jar (Albarello)

Jars exhibiting this distinctive shape—an elongated cylinder with a concave waist—are often referred to as albarelli (singular, albarello). The application of this Italian term is likely due to the popularity of such vessels in Italy beginning in the fifteenth century, where they were used to store pharmaceuticals, medicinal plants, and other natural remedies.[1] Their functional shape allowed for easy handling and arrangement on shelves.

Origins of the form lie outside of Europe, however, as ceramics of this shape are known from earlier periods in Syria, Egypt, and other parts of the Islamic world. This well-preserved and sumptuous example—with its repeating quatrefoil medallion pattern in gold, white, and red on a deep blue ground—was produced in Iran during the reign of the Ilkhanid dynasty. It exhibits a rare glaze type referred to as lajvardina, from the Persian word for lapis lazuli (lajvard).[2]

The elegant, curving profile of this jar is complemented by its vivid blue glaze and glittering gold-leaf patterning. The design is composed of tiny squares of gold leaf arranged in diamond-shaped patterns over the surface. Each square is carefully outlined in red glaze and enclosed within a white medallion. A time-consuming and costly technique, the application of gold leaf to ceramics is described in an early fourteenth-century treatise written by the Persian author Abu al-Qasim ‘Abdallah al-Kashani.[3] A member of an illustrious multigenerational family of potters from Kashan, he relates that such ceramics were subject to two firings — the first to establish the dark blue background glaze, the second to set the overpainted red and white enamels as well as the gold leaf.[4]

While overpainting can also be seen in earlier Persian ceramics known as mina’i (enameled wares), the combination of intense blue underglaze with predominantly gold overpainting is characteristic of the Ilkhanid era. It was a relatively short-lived phenomenon, and lajvardina ceramics are known to survive in only limited numbers.[5] These surviving vessels, along with lajvardina tiles found in the excavations of the Ilkhanid royal palace known as Takht-i Sulaiman, attest to the luxurious and precious nature of this class of ceramics—perhaps considered fit for royalty alone.[6]

Denise-Marie Teece in [Ekhtiar, Soucek, Canby, and Haidar 2011]

Footnotes:

1. Wallis, Henry. Italian Ceramic Art: The Albarello; A Study in Early Renaissance Maiolica. London, 1904. See his "Introduction" for more on the form.

2. See the entry for this piece in Carboni and Komaroff 2002, p. 271, no. 131, image on p. 200, fig. 241. Description of the lajvardina glaze technique on pp. 201–2.

3. Allan, J[ames] W. "Abu’l-Qasim’s Treatise on Ceramics." Iran 11 (1973), pp. 111–20, esp. pp. 114–15. See also the Persian edition mentioned by Allan (ibid., p. 120): ‘Arayis al-Jawahir wa Nafayis al-Atayib (Tehran, 1345). Two manuscript copies of the treatise are known, one dated A.H. 700/1301 A.D.

4. See Allan 1973 (reference in footnote 2); Masuya, Tomoko. "Ilkhanid Courtly Life." In Carboni and Komaroff 2002, pp. 92ff.

5. Other examples in the Metropolitan Museum include acc. nos. 91.1.1529; 20.120.73; 34.151; 40.181.16; 66.95.8; 1975.30; 1976.245; and 1991.224.1.

6. See Masuya 2002, pp. 96ff.(reference in footnote 4); and Carboni and Komaroff 2002, pp. 201–2






Storage Jar

This type of storage jar with concave sides, which allow it to be more easily handled when ranged with a number of similarly shaped jars, is known in the West as an albarello, reflecting its use in Italy from the fifteenth century onward. The shape, however, was originally an import from the Islamic world, where such ceramic vessels were produced over a wide area, including Spain, Egypt, and Syria, and Iran. This albarello, which is exceptional in still having its lid, is decorated in lajvardina, the opulent overglaze painting technique that was practised only in Ilkhanid Iran.[1] Its ornament, an allover design of golden quatrefoils enclosed by lobed medallions, is somewhat reminiscent of the patterning of the silk and gold textiles that were so highly prized by the Mongols.[2]

[Komaroff and Carboni 2002]

Footnotes:

1. Jenkins [Madina], Marilyn. "Islamic Pottery: A Brief History." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 40, no. 4 (Spring 1983), pp. 26–27, no. 28.

2. For a relevant thirteenth-to-fourteenth century silk and gold tabby weave attributed to Central Asia, see Watt, James C.Y. and Anne E. Wardwell. When Silk was Gold: Central Asian and Chinese Textiles. Exhib. cat. The Cleveland Museum of Art; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1997, pp. 160–61, no. 46.

Marking: - Sticker below base: 1295
- Sticker below base: Leberthon

Henry G. Leberthon, Hempstead, NY (by 1931–d. 1939; bequeathed to Mrs. Chauncey); Louise Ruxton Chauncey, New York (1939–57; gifted to MMA)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Ceramic Art of the Near East," May 12–June 23, 1931, no. 69.

Asia Society. "Iranian Ceramics," May 3, 1963–September 12, 1963, no. 71.

Dalal, Radha, Sean Roberts, and Jochen Sokoly, ed. The Seas and the Mobility of Islamic Art. Yale University Press, pp. 49–51, ill. fig. 2.8.

Dimand, Maurice S. "The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, May 12–June 28, 1931." In Ceramic Art of the Near East. New York, 1931. no. 69, p. 17, ill. (b/w).

Harari, Ralph, and Richard Ettinghausen. A Survey of Persian Art from Prehistoric Times to the Present, edited by Arthur Upham Pope. vol. I–VI. London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1938. ill. vol. V, pl. 751 A.

Dimand, Maurice S. "New Accessions of Islamic Art." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin vol. 16 (April 1958). pp. 228, 235, ill. p. 235 (b/w).

Wilkinson, Charles K. Iranian Ceramics. New York: Asia House Gallery, 1963. no. 71, pp. 8, 134, ill. pl. 71 (b/w).

Jenkins-Madina, Marilyn, Suzanne G. Valenstein, and Julia Meech-Pekarik. "The Metropolitan Museum of Art." In Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections. vol. 12. Tokyo: Kodansha International Ltd., 1977. no. 88, p. 314, ill. (color).

Jenkins-Madina, Marilyn. "Islamic Pottery: A Brief History." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series, vol. 40, no. 4 (Spring 1983). no. 28, pp. 26–27, ill. pl. 28 (color).

"October 10, 11, 1990." In Islamic Works of Art, Carpets and Textiles. London: Sotheby's, London, October 10-11, 1990. no. 120, p. 40.

Rossabi, Morris, Charles Melville, James C. Y. Watt, Tomoko Masuya, Sheila Blair, Robert Hillenbrand, Linda Komaroff, Stefano Carboni, Sarah Bertelan, and John Hirx. The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia, 1256–1353, edited by Stefano Carboni, and Linda Komaroff. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002. no. 131, pp. 200–1, 271, ill. fig. 241 (color).

Ekhtiar, Maryam, Priscilla P. Soucek, Sheila R. Canby, and Navina Haidar, ed. Masterpieces from the Department of Islamic Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1st ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011. no. 79, p. 122, ill. p. 122 (color).