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Model of a House with Festive Scene

12th–early 13th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 453
Ceramic house models may have been wedding gifts. This turquoise model’s open courtyard with pierced balustrade and corner roof projections suggests a vernacular building. A festive occasion is depicted, with seated personages holding cups and a couple dancing with raised arms. The role of the turbaned, bearded man on a high stepped stool—a figure who bears the conventional traits of older, wise, educated, or religious men—remains enigmatic.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Model of a House with Festive Scene
  • Date: 12th–early 13th century
  • Geography: Attributed to Iran
  • Medium: Stonepaste; molded, modeled, glazed in transparent turquoise
  • Dimensions: H. 2 3/4 in. (7 cm)
    W. 7 1/8 in. (18.1 cm)
    D. 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm)
  • Classification: Ceramics
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1967
  • Object Number: 67.117
  • Curatorial Department: Islamic Art

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Pierced Jug with Harpies and Sphinxes, Stonepaste; openwork, underglaze-painted, glazed in transparent turquoise
Pierced Jug with Harpies and Sphinxes
dated 612 AH/1215–16 CE
Turquoise Bowl with Lute Player and Audience, Stonepaste; glazed (opaque monochrome), in-glaze- and overglaze-painted, gilded
Turquoise Bowl with Lute Player and Audience
late 12th–early 13th century
Luster Bowl with Winged Horse, Stonepaste; luster-painted on opaque monochrome glaze
Luster Bowl with Winged Horse
late 12th century
Mihrab (Prayer Niche), Mosaic of polychrome-glazed cut tiles on stonepaste body; set into mortar
Mihrab (Prayer Niche)
dated 755 AH/1354–55 CE
Bowl with a Majlis Scene by a Pond, Abu Zayd al-Kashani Iranian, Stonepaste; glazed in opaque turquoise, polychrome in-glaze- and overglaze- painted
Bowl with a Majlis Scene by a Pond
Abu Zayd al-Kashani
dated 582 AH/1186 CE

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