Bowl with hunting scene

Name: Bowl with hunting scene (symbol of Mértola’s Archaeological Site)



Provenance: Citadel of Mértola. Crypto-porticus

Location: Museum of Mértola. Museum of Islamic Art

Description: A large bowl with a flat rim, semi-spherical body and convex base with a tall, annular foot. The exterior has grooves and a nearly transparent glaze. The inner side depicts, in green and manganese, a hunting scene in which a greyhound and a falcon attack a gazelle.

This artefact belongs to a series of bowls of identical form, technique and decorative style scattered over several points on the Western Mediterranean (Cartagena, Alicante, Mallorca, Pisa and Kairowan). Most studies refer to the latter Tunisian city as the place of origin, although recent studies based on paste analysis do not exclude the possibility of their production in the Iberian Peninsula.

Dimensions: Height 135mm, diameter 392mm

Chronology: Second half of the 11th century



Retrieved from:

TORRES, Cláudio; MACIAS, Santiago (ed.) (2003): Museu de Mértola: arte islâmica. Mértola: Campo Arqueológico de Mértola, pp.109.