Bowl with Long-Beaked Bird
late 1200s—early 1300s CE
terracotta with sgraffito
9 x 27.2 cm
The Conservation Center, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University
On loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (L.2000.77.3)
This is a simply constructed ceramic bowl. It was thrown on a wheel, coated in sage glaze, carved, and then fired. “Sgraffito” is an image making technique in ceramics in which glaze is applied to a piece, left to dry, and then carved with a scratching tool to reveal the color of the clay underneath. This process was quick and allowed for objects of similar structure to have varied adornments.
This bowl was likely a quotidian object sold commercially. Its subject, playfully abstracted, would have been widely appealing to Byzantine consumers. Crane hunting was a popular sport, and the bird at the object’s center could represent either a predatory hawk or a coveted waterfowl.
—Ethan Bisselberg