<em>Bottle Depicting a Hunting Scene</em>, first half 17th century. Ceramic; fritware, painted in cobalt blue and black on an opaque white glaze, 11 1/2 × 8 1/4 × 5 1/4 in. (29.2 × 21 × 13.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Museum Collection, 34.6024. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 34.6024_side1_SL1.jpg)

Bottle Depicting a Hunting Scene, first half 17th century. Ceramic; fritware, painted in cobalt blue and black on an opaque white glaze, 11 1/2 × 8 1/4 × 5 1/4 in. (29.2 × 21 × 13.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Museum Collection, 34.6024. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 34.6024_side1_SL1.jpg)

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What is fritware?

Fritware is a type of ceramic material similar to the ancient Egyptian faience. "Frit" is a finely ground, glassy substance often made from quartz. Potters add an oxide to the frit which functions as a "flux" and lowers the melting point of the frit. This mixture can then be melted into a more fluid state and formed into tiles or vessels like you see in our gallery.

Fritware is stronger than traditional clay meaning that it can produce a greater variety of forms with thinner and more decorative walls. Fritware is also naturally white which, of course, takes color much more easily than a brown, earthenware body.

Tell me more.

I love the design on this bottle and the way the hunter seems hidden amidst thick foliage. In contrast to the Chinese-inspired designs nearby, the figures on this bottle wear European-inspired clothing in a style popular in Safavid period Persia.

Something especially unique about this one is the way that the blue glaze fills the negative space while the naturally white color of the fritware makes up the foreground.

Bottle Depicting a Hunting Scene

Arts of the Islamic World

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

MEDIUM Ceramic; fritware, painted in cobalt blue and black on an opaque white glaze

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATIONS

Place made: Iran
Possible place made: Mashad, Iran

DATES first half 17th century

DYNASTY Safavid

PERIOD Safavid

DIMENSIONS 11 1/2 × 8 1/4 × 5 1/4 in. (29.2 × 21 × 13.3 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Arts of the Islamic World

ACCESSION NUMBER 34.6024

CREDIT LINE Brooklyn Museum Collection

PROVENANCE Prior to 1933, provenance not yet documented; before 1933, acquired from an unidentified source by the Brooklyn Museum, acquisition method not documented.

Provenance FAQ

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Flask, flattened body, with a tall neck cut down. The surface of the flask is molded; it is painted under a discolored transparent glaze in cobalt blue with black outlines. The rough base is unglazed. The decoration is reserved on a blue ground and outlined in black. On one side stands a man with an animal round his shoulders; to the left, a woman kneels before him, offering him a cup. The man wears a European costume - a doublet with a ruff and a hat. The woman is more simply dressed in Persian style. Between the figure is a tray of fruit and a glass (?) flask. In the background are flowers and shrubs of different kinds, birds and cloud-scrolls. The other side is decorated with a hunting scene. A man in European costume fires at a hare (?) with his gun; on the right is a wounded crane. From his waist hangs a powder horn in the form of a bird's head and a bag. The background consists of flowers, leaves, and cloud-scrolls.

EXHIBITIONS

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

CAPTION Bottle Depicting a Hunting Scene, first half 17th century. Ceramic; fritware, painted in cobalt blue and black on an opaque white glaze, 11 1/2 × 8 1/4 × 5 1/4 in. (29.2 × 21 × 13.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Museum Collection, 34.6024. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 34.6024_side1_SL1.jpg)

IMAGE profile, side 1, 34.6024_side1_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

RECORD COMPLETENESS

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

What is fritware?

Tell me more.

Something especially unique about this one is the way that the blue glaze fills the negative space while the naturally white color of the fritware makes up the foreground.