{"data": {"id": 126239, "accession_number": "1948.458", "share_license_status": "CC0", "tombstone": "Bird-shaped Vessel, 1100s. Iran, Seljuq period (1037\u20131194). Bronze, cast, with chased and chiseled decoration; eyes inlaid with blue glass; overall: 17.5 x 9.5 cm (6 7/8 x 3 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Edward L. Whittemore Fund, 1948.458", "current_location": "116 Islamic", "title": "Bird-shaped Vessel", "creation_date": "1100s", "creation_date_earliest": 1100, "creation_date_latest": 1199, "artists_tags": [], "culture": ["Iran, Seljuq period (1037\u20131194)"], "technique": "bronze, cast, with chased and chiseled decoration; eyes inlaid with blue glass", "support_materials": [], "department": "Islamic Art", "collection": "Islamic Art", "type": "Metalwork", "measurements": "Overall: 17.5 x 9.5 cm (6 7/8 x 3 3/4 in.)", "dimensions": {"overall": {"height": 0.175, "height_inch": 6, "height_inch_fraction": 0.875, "width": 0.095, "width_inch": 3, "width_inch_fraction": 0.75}}, "state_of_the_work": null, "edition_of_the_work": null, "copyright": null, "inscriptions": [{"inscription": "Kufic inscription above tail feathers, undeciphered, possibly pseudo-inscription", "inscription_translation": null, "inscription_remark": null, "sortorder": null}], "exhibitions": {"current": [{"id": 701305, "title": "The Bird in Art", "description": "<i>The Bird in Art</i>. Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA (organizer) (June 6-August 12, 1956).", "opening_date": "1956-06-06T04:00:00"}, {"id": 374836, "title": "Persian Art Before and After the Mongol Conquest", "description": "<i>Persian Art Before and After the Mongol Conquest</i>. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI (organizer) (April 9-May 17, 1959).", "opening_date": "1959-04-09T05:00:00"}, {"id": 518751, "title": "The Exhibition of Persian Art: 7000 Years of Art in Iran", "description": "<i>The Exhibition of Persian Art: 7000 Years of Art in Iran</i>. Petit Palais, Mus\u00e9e des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France (organizer) (October 19, 1961-January 31, 1962); Villa H\u00fcgel, Essen, Germany (February 16-April 24, 1962); Kunsthaus Z\u00fcrich, CH-8024 Z\u00fcrich, Switzerland (May 17-July 22, 1962); Gemeentemuseum den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands (September 4-November 18, 1962); MAK, the \u00d6sterreichisches Museum f\u00fcr angewandte Kunst/Gegenwartskunst, Vienna, Austria (January 16-March 31, 1963).", "opening_date": "1961-10-19T04:00:00"}, {"id": 300779, "title": "Juxtapositions", "description": "<i>Juxtapositions</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 11-October 10, 1965).", "opening_date": "1965-09-11T04:00:00"}, {"id": 396857, "title": "Art of the Islamic World (Islamic art rotation)", "description": "<i>Art of the Islamic World (Islamic art rotation)</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (May 21, 2021-May 31, 2022).", "opening_date": "2021-05-21T04:00:00"}], "legacy": []}, "provenance": [{"description": "(Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)", "citations": [], "footnotes": [], "date": "?-1948", "sortorder": 1}, {"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH", "citations": [], "footnotes": [], "date": "1948-", "sortorder": 2}], "find_spot": null, "related_works": [], "former_accession_numbers": [], "did_you_know": "There is an undeciphered Kufic inscription above the bird's tail feathers.", "early_education_description": null, "artlens_description": null, "description": "This bird-shaped vessel may have been used as a medieval water vessel (<em>aquamanile</em>) for pouring water used in handwashing\u2014an important element of secular and sacred rituals. In this piece, water could have been placed in the vessel through a hole in the bird\u2019s chest and then poured out through the hinged beak. Birds in Islamic art often represented messengers and protectors, or symbolized freedom of the spirit and soaring of the soul. Possibly the blue-green eyes were considered good luck charms to protect the owner from the evil eye and to ward off misfortune.", "external_resources": {"wikidata": ["https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60757294"], "internet_archive": ["https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1948.458-bird-shaped-vessel"]}, "citations": [{"citation": "\u201cPart II. Annual Report Issue for the Year 1948.\u201d <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>, vol. 36, no. 6, 1949, pp. 111\u2013142.", "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 117", "url": "www.jstor.org/stable/25141566"}, {"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.", "page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 709", "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n129"}, {"citation": "<em>Persian Art Before And After the Mongol Conquest.: [Exhibition] April 9-May 17, 1959. the University of Michigan, Museum of Art, Ann Arbor</em>. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, Museum of Art, 1959.", "page_number": "Mentioned: cat. no. 57, p. 32", "url": null}, {"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.", "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 209", "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n233"}, {"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.", "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 209", "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n233"}, {"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.", "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 265", "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n285"}], "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1948.458", "images": {"annotation": null, "web": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1948.458/1948.458_web.jpg", "width": "1056", "height": "893", "filesize": "474630", "filename": "1948.458_web.jpg"}, "print": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1948.458/1948.458_print.jpg", "width": "3400", "height": "2875", "filesize": "5873491", "filename": "1948.458_print.jpg"}, "full": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1948.458/1948.458_full.tif", "width": "4768", "height": "4032", "filesize": "57700180", "filename": "1948.458_full.tif"}}, "alternate_images": [{"web": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1948.458/1948.458_alt0_web.jpg", "width": "933", "height": "893", "filesize": "458686"}, "print": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1948.458/1948.458_alt0_print.jpg", "width": "3400", "height": "3255", "filesize": "6867851"}, "full": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1948.458/1948.458_alt0_full.tif", "width": "4131", "height": "3955", "filesize": "49041788"}, "date_created": "2011-08-11T19:07:17", "annotation": ""}, {"web": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1948.458/1948.458_alt1_web.jpg", "width": "1077", "height": "893", "filesize": "497949"}, "print": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1948.458/1948.458_alt1_print.jpg", "width": "3400", "height": "2819", "filesize": "5767543"}, "full": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1948.458/1948.458_alt1_full.tif", "width": "4811", "height": "3989", "filesize": "57599804"}, "date_created": "2011-08-11T19:22:05", "annotation": ""}, {"web": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1948.458/1948.458_alt2_web.jpg", "width": "602", "height": "893", "filesize": "315620"}, "print": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1948.458/1948.458_alt2_print.jpg", "width": "2291", "height": "3400", "filesize": "5045416"}, "full": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1948.458/1948.458_alt2_full.tif", "width": "3171", "height": "4705", "filesize": "44785384"}, "date_created": "2011-08-11T19:40:33", "annotation": ""}], "creditline": "Edward L. Whittemore Fund", "image_credit": null, "sketchfab_id": null, "sketchfab_url": null, "gallery_donor_text": null, "athena_id": 126239, "creators": [], "legal_status": "accessioned", "accession_date": "1948-12-30T00:00:00", "sortable_date": 1100, "date_added_to_oa": null, "date_text": "1100s", "collapse_artists": false, "on_loan": false, "recently_acquired": false, "record_type": "object", "conservation_statement": null, "has_conservation_images": false, "cover_accession_number": null, "is_nazi_era_provenance": false, "impression": null, "alternate_titles": [], "is_highlight": false, "updated_at": "2026-05-29 06:31:47.787000"}}