Bowl

Shortly after the turn of the twentieth century, Freer began to purchase Near Eastern pottery to complement his already substantial holdings of East Asian ceramics. In 1908 he would travel to Egypt, Palestine, and Syria to seek examples directly from local dealers. Excavations had brought sizable quantities of these wares to the European art market. The Paris-based dealer Dikran Kelekian was an early purveyor of examples of pieces like this bowl, which Freer acquired from him in 1903. In his inventory notes, Freer described it as an "interesting specimen for students" of Persian pottery. In the Peacock Room in Detroit, he displayed it on a corner shelf adjacent to the main doorway, grouped with two similar examples that he had purchased in the same year.