Fragment of a Bowl Depicting a Mounted Warrior

Pink earthenware body, monochrome lusterwareFound in Fustat (old Cairo). Buff clay, white slip ground covered with clear glaze. Overglaze decoration in olive luster. Bearded cavalier with turban and large shield, adorned with a crescent in left hand. A rabbit trots alongside the horse and rider through palmette vines. The riders foreshortened foot, his intense sideward gaze, and the scarf or turban end trailing out behind him all illustrate the earthly vitality of this piece. Scenes of hunting, fighting, dancing, and musicians were very popular in the Muslim world from Umayyad times onward, especially for royal patrons or wealthier classes who acquired these wares.