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Lot Essay
In the 12th and 13th centuries, Kashan in Iran and Raqqa in Syria were key centres of luxury pottery production, creating a variety of items with different decorating and glazing techniques. Among these, three-dimensional moulded figures, including depictions of women breastfeeding, emerged as a rare and significant iconographic theme. Dr. Melanie Gibson has studied these ceramic sculptures in depth, noting that they were either functional, with openings for liquid, or purely decorative.
The breastfeeding women were typically designed with openings in their heads, suggesting their function as storage containers or drinking vessels. One possibility is that they were meant to hold milk from a wet nurse, with the breastfeeding form symbolising protection and nourishment. Alternatively, they may have contained liquid from a holy site, associated with beliefs in healing, fertility, or safe childbirth, reflecting Christian influences. Another theory is that the figures were votive offerings in Shia devotional practices, though the exact contents of the vessels remain uncertain, "Breastfeeding Figures in Islamic Art," in Fruit of Knowledge, Wheel of Learning: Essays in Honour of Robert Hillenbrand, ed. Melanie Gibson, 2022, pp. 240-241. Comparable figures, very similar to ours, include one in the Berlin Museum für Islamische Kunst (acc.no.I.2622) and others in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc.nos. 65.194.2 and 68.223.4).
The breastfeeding women were typically designed with openings in their heads, suggesting their function as storage containers or drinking vessels. One possibility is that they were meant to hold milk from a wet nurse, with the breastfeeding form symbolising protection and nourishment. Alternatively, they may have contained liquid from a holy site, associated with beliefs in healing, fertility, or safe childbirth, reflecting Christian influences. Another theory is that the figures were votive offerings in Shia devotional practices, though the exact contents of the vessels remain uncertain, "Breastfeeding Figures in Islamic Art," in Fruit of Knowledge, Wheel of Learning: Essays in Honour of Robert Hillenbrand, ed. Melanie Gibson, 2022, pp. 240-241. Comparable figures, very similar to ours, include one in the Berlin Museum für Islamische Kunst (acc.no.I.2622) and others in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc.nos. 65.194.2 and 68.223.4).