Vase

The original greenish-white glaze on this vase is almost entirely covered with the iridescence of decay. Raqqa wares like this one only began to appear on the art market at the turn of the last century, following the excavation of ancient and medieval pottery in northern Mesopotamia, near modern-day Mosul, and in the south, near Baghdad and along the Gulf. Freer was an early enthusiast: he purchased his first piece in 1902 and eventually amassed a substantial collection of Near Eastern ceramics. In Detroit, they were prominently featured throughout the Peacock Room, most notably massed around La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine and in the eye-level shelves along the west wall. Although subsequent connoisseurs and scholars have preferred less ravaged, more highly decorated Islamic ceramics, the complex surface appealed to Freer's aesthetic sensibilities. He regarded this piece as a "good specimen." In his inventory notes he added, "Though damaged, [it] has fortunately escaped the hands of the reckless restorer."