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Museum of George and Nefeli Giabra Pierides Collection (Donated by Clio and Solon Triantafyllides) / GP 1999-337
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Exhibition Number:  15/13
Item:  Bowl
Category:  Pottery Mediaeval glazed
Dating:  14th century.
Period:  Medieval Period (1192-1571)
Style:  Brown and Green Sgraffito Ware
Material:  Clay
Dimensions:  Height: 7.5cm.; rim diam.: 11.7cm.; base diam.: 8cm.
Description:  Hard pinkish-brown fabric. Depressed hemispherical body with a flat bottom turning to vertical walls. Simple rim edging to rounded lip. Raised, boldly flaring foot, slightly splayed base. White slip all over, inside and out. Decoration engraved through the slip. On the interior, a female and a male figure moving towards the right, depicted one behind the other. The woman is in front in three-quarter profile, her arms stretched out in front. In her right hand she holds a kerchief with decorated edges, and in her left a kind of fan. She wears an elaborately ornamented garment with a fish-scale pattern on the bodice and a skirt decorated with a wide band of triangular motifs on the front. On her head a long veil embellished with a zig-zag line of leaves and a fringe. The male figure behind her wears a knee-length garment with a reticulated bodice. He holds a bardoukion in his raised right hand and a seistron in his left. Tiny rosettes scattered around the figures. The meaning of the scene and the relationship between the two figures is not obvious, nor is it easy to interpret. One possibility is that the male figure is a knight trying to win the heart of his beloved; such scenes are found in illustrations in manuscripts, on objects of minor art, such as bone or ivory combs and looking-glasses, in embroidery, and on little boxes which were wedding presents or gifts exchanged by lovers. Around the rim a band with a zig-zag line of leaves on imbrication. On the exterior, a pair of parallel lines below the lip and a pair of vertical lines from them down to the foot. Alternating yellow-brown and green brushstrokes on the sgraffito pattern. The alternation of the colours is more apparent on the exterior, where the brushstrokes are vertical and quite emphatic. Colourless glaze inside, and outside down to the foot. Scars left by tripod stilt in the well. The decoration resembles that of bowl no. 336.

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