Fruit of Knowledge, Wheel of Learning

Essays in Honour of Robert Hillenbrand

Edited by Melanie Gibson

melAnie Gibson

‘Healing for what is in the breasts’:

Ceramic Breastfeeding Figures from
the Medieval Islamic World

I
n the second hAlf of the twelfth and the a close examination of the objects themselves to
first half of the thirteenth century, the cities elicit what information can be gleaned from the
of Kashan in Iran and Raqqa in Syria were outward appearance of the female figures, their Figure 1A.
(No. 1) Vessel in the form of a
successful manufacturing centres of luxury pottery, physiognomy, costume and headdress. Ceramic seated woman breastfeeding a
producing a wide range of styles with a variety of sculptures were made either as functional objects, child, stonepaste, lustre on part
opaque white and part cobalt
decorating and glazing techniques. Alongside
1
with openings or spouts from which liquid could glazes, H. 35.4 cm, W. 23.2 cm;
different forms of tableware, workshops started be poured, or as statuettes with a purely decorative Iran, Kashan, circa 1150–1200.
Berlin, Museum für Islamische
to produce three-dimensional moulded figures value. It is significant that the breastfeeding women Kunst I. 2622. © Museum für
representing human, animal and bird forms. This were exclusively made with an opening in the head, Islamische Kunst der Staatlichen
Museen zu Berlin–Preußischer
article looks at a group of glazed sculptures made indicating their function as storage containers Kulturbesitz/ Johannes Kramer.
in the form of women suckling a child at the breast. or drinking vessels. There is no record of any
In a period of iconography in which the female type of residue found inside the vessels, but after
form is relatively obscure, the depiction of three- considering analogous objects and textual sources it insufficient milk herself. A second possibility is that of her milk had a multiconfessional resonance; the
dimensional breastfeeding figures is unprecedented, is possible to speculate on the nature of the contents. the vessels were designed to hold liquid collected appearance of the sculptures can be linked with
and warrants closer study. One possibility is that the vessels were intended to from a holy site (often with Christian rather than images of Maria Lactans found in monasteries and
For some of the ceramic sculptures produced contain milk from a wet-nurse, and were modelled Muslim associations), reputed to help women churches in the western Islamic regions. One final
during this period the significance of the theme is no in a form which alluded explicitly to the suckling wishing to conceive, to have a healthy pregnancy possibility is that the figures were votive gifts in the
longer obvious, but the image of a woman suckling a mother in order to give the milk protective as well as or to deliver their child safely. In this scenario, the celebration of Shiʿi devotional rituals but what they
child is so fundamental that it cuts across differences nutritional benefits, possibly in a situation in which significance of the image of Mary suckling Jesus, might have contained remains unclear.
of time, place and culture. I begin this study with the lactating mother was unwell, or was producing and a concomitant belief in the healing properties

240 mel Anie Gibson 241

242 essays in Honour of robert Hillenbrand mel Anie Gibson 243
 The lustre-glazing technique introduced to Kashan
in the mid-twelfth century has several recognisable
features and a well-established dating chronology
and is therefore a key to identifying both the origin
and date of some of the examples. Four breastfeeding
figurines (Nos. 1, 2, 3, 14 in the catalogue), plus two
detached heads (Nos. 15 and 16), are decorated with
lustre and can be confidently attributed to Kashan
[Figure 1, 2 and 6]. Certain technical approaches
to their manufacture, as well as aspects of their
decoration, locate them within the first period of
production, approximately dated 1150–1200.5 In
this phase the use of a white glaze opacified with
tin was restricted to the exterior surfaces of closed
forms such as the figures, and a transparent cobalt
blue glaze was used on the inner surfaces (Nos. 1
and 2). The potters also experimented with applying
lustre over a transparent cobalt glaze, successfully
as on No.1, or much less so as on No. 3 where the
lustre has lost its definition and become blurred
during the reduction firing. In terms of decoration,
palmettes reserved in white against the lustre and
foliage painted with a single paint stroke (features
Figure 2. Figure 3. Figure 4. that appear on figure No. 2) can be singled out as
(No. 2) Vessel in the form of a seated woman (No. 5) Fragmentary vessel in the form of a (No. 4) Vessel in the form of a seated woman breastfeeding
breastfeeding a child, stonepaste, lustre on an opaque seated woman breastfeeding a child, stonepaste, characteristic of this period.6
a child, stonepaste, painted with black under a transparent
white glaze, H. 22.2 cm, W. 13.8 cm; Iran, Kashan, circa unknown colour glaze, H. 20.1 cm, W. 13.7 cm; turquoise glaze, H. 20.5 cm, W. 13.7 cm; Iran, Kashan, circa A slightly larger proportion of the total number of
1150–1200. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art Iran, Kashan, circa 1150–1200. Washington D.C., 1150–1200. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art 65.194.2,
68.223.4, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Lester Wolfe, 1968. Freer Sackler F1911.615, Gift of Charles Lang Freer. ceramic sculptures is decorated with the underglaze
Gift of J. Lionberger Davis, 1965.
technique with details in black, and sometimes
cobalt blue, painted directly onto the body and
Breastfeeding Figures quality—the most complete is superbly painted extends across the surface, ignoring the contours. coated in a turquoise transparent glaze.7 The
with two colours of glaze and lustre, whereas The objects are hollow, glazed on the interior technique was first practised in Syria around 1150–
To date I have recorded thirteen breastfeeding other examples are decorated in a more cursory and have an opening in the top; the headdress is 1200 and seems to have developed independently
figures held in international collections, with one manner—but all thirteen share a consistent shape generally formed with a pointed central element in Kashan around 1200.8 Eight of the figures are
more in an identical posture without a child (these and some external characteristics. Formed in a3
which functioned as a pouring lip when the vessel glazed in this palette but conclusive attributions are
are listed fully at the end of this article). The figures
2
two-part mould, each one shows a cross-legged was tipped and liquid poured from it. Their purpose
4
difficult to establish: sculpture No. 5 for instance
are decorated with a range of techniques including woman cradling a child with both arms; the infant, as storage containers for liquid, or vessels from [Figure 3], has a badly damaged surface which
lustre, underglaze painting and single-coloured not a new-born but with features and long hair that which liquid could be drunk directly, seems clear. gives no indication of its original decoration but
glazes. None bears any kind of inscription or has suggest an age of between one and twelve months, There was some overlap in the glazing its proportions and moulded details match those
been found within an archaeological context, but I raises its hand to guide an exposed breast into its technologies practised in the workshops of of figure No. 4 which has been attributed to Kashan
have attempted attributions based on comparisons open mouth. Certain elements are moulded in relief, Kashan and Raqqa, and while certain aspects [Figure 4]. However, No. 5 was acquired by Charles
to more securely provenanced ceramic objects, as and in some cases emphasised with painted outlines; appear diagnostic and can be identified with Lang Freer with a group of other figurines from
well as costume details. The figures vary widely in in less carefully decorated examples the decoration one or other centre, others are more ambiguous. Vincenzo Marcopoli and Co., an antiquities firm

244 essays in Honour of robert Hillenbrand mel Anie Gibson 245

 projecting elements on the headdresses of three of
these same figures (Nos. 11–13) which presumably
depict a variant in the costume of the region in which
they were made, most likely in Syria rather than Iran.
With its larger size and fine lustre decoration,
the figure in Berlin’s Museum für Islamische Kunst
can be singled out as a ‘deluxe’ version of the type
[Figure 1]. It was bought in 1914 in Baghdad from
the dealer Meymarian and given as a present to the
museum by the banker Franz von Mendelssohn
(1865–1935). The potter of the figure attempted,
with some success, to keep the areas of flesh on
both woman and child white while the headdress
and garment were coloured a pale cobalt blue.12
Figure 6.
The moulding of the areas in relief is only partly (No. 16) Fragmentary head.
accurate—the infant’s legs are cut off at the knee Stonepaste, lustre on an opaque
white glaze, H. 11.9 cm, W. 10.5 cm;
where they are hidden by the woman’s hair and the Iran, Kashan circa 1150–1200. Berlin,
covered breast, although outlined, is completely flat Museum für Islamische Kunst
I.5336. © Museum für Islamische
in contrast to the rounded exposed breast. A golden- Kunst der Staatlichen Museen zu
brown lustre colour was used for all the details of Berlin–Preußischer Kulturbesitz/
Johannes Kramer.
hair, physiognomy and patterning of the fabric.
Some other figures are decorated more cursorily and
Figure 5. the patterning can extend across the body, garment of the other; this might be an apotropaic word or decipherable of which are on a group of bowls and
(No. 7) Vessel in the form of a seated woman
breastfeeding a child, stonepaste, painted with black
and infant without any delineation, as in Nos. 6 and a name but is illegible. The eyes are narrow and fragments decorated with the polychrome minaʾi
under a transparent turquoise glaze, H. 19.1 cm, base 7 [Figure 5]. On these, as well as figure No. 9, which extended at the outer corners; a line is painted along technique, as well as a heavily illustrated copy of the
11 x 6.4 cm. Iran, Kashan, circa 1150–1220. Cincinnati
Art Museum, Given in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Charles
is entirely monochrome glazed, and Nos. 8 and 12, the eyelid possibly to indicate the use of kohl. In Varqa and Gulshah manuscript in which the female
F. Williams by their children, 1948.11. Photograph where the glaze surface is almost entirely obscured most examples the line forming the eyebrows and protagonist Gulshah appears in several paintings.15
courtesy of the Cincinnati Art Museum.
by iridescence, the details are discernible only in the running down the nose is moulded in relief; the These are depictions of women of elevated social
raised surfaces. arched eyebrows are in several cases thickly painted standing: Gulshah is the daughter of a tribal leader
based in Aleppo, and a note written by the collector The physiognomy of all the breast-feeding over this and appear to join, or almost join, over the who is eventually married, against her will, to the
describes how they were found in Raqqa. One aspect 9
figurines is of the standard Perso-Turkic type with bridge of the nose (as on the detached heads Nos. 15 king of Syria. The women depicted on the bowls,
of four of the underglaze painted figures (Nos. 10–13) a circular ‘moon-face’ (Pers. māh-ruy), with narrow and 16; Figure 6). On the Berlin figure the forehead generally as one half of a couple, wear elaborately
distinguishes them from the rest of the group—their extended eyes, high cheekbones, a small mouth and and bridge of the nose have been repainted, but patterned textiles, complex headdresses and
infants suckle from the right rather than the left a protruding, often dimpled, chin. Small tattoos
13
originally the arching eyebrows are sure to have jewellery which indicate that they too had wealth
breast, a perplexing switch since the breast nearest or beauty spots, mostly floral or geometric designs, joined, and a tattoo might have been painted in the and status [Figure 7].
to the heart tends to always be shown in Pharaonic, are shown on the cheeks, forehead and chin (Nos. 1, centre. On the more carefully-painted figures the The quality of the Berlin figure suggests that she
Graeco-Roman and Early Christian depictions of 2, 4, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16). In Turkic culture tattooing hair hangs down in long tresses, with more strands was owned by a woman belonging to the elite, but
breastfeeding.10 A parallel can be drawn with wall- was customary for men and women, and Scott draped over the shoulders and a veil attached to the others in the group have a simple monochrome
paintings of the Virgin Mary suckling Jesus from the Redford has suggested that these indelible marks headdress hanging down the back (Nos. 1, 2, 4) or glaze, more cursory decoration or a less careful
right breast found in three monasteries in Egypt were symbols of power, prestige and possibly even twisted and bound (No. 11). finish. The potters’ increased reliance on moulds
which suggests that this might have been a tradition ownership.14 The Berlin figure (No. 1) has a word The clothing of the figures conforms to depictions allowed them to produce vessels and figures of
of the Syro-Egyptian region. Less obscure are the
11
written on each cheek, one side a mirror image of women’s costume of this period, the most identical size and characteristics in larger numbers.

246 essays in Honour of robert Hillenbrand mel Anie Gibson 247

 the left one protrudes; marks of lustre over the right
breast suggest that it is patterned. The neckline is
ornamented with a line of round discs which might
be embroidery or form part of a necklace worn
over the shift. On several figures the second breast
is positioned so inaccurately it appears to be part
of the textile pattern (Nos. 2, 4, 6, 10, 11). The outer
garment of the Berlin figure has medium-width
sleeves and is fastened by a circular buckle below
her hands; the fabric is decorated with a pattern of
crescents and confronted palmette shapes, the folds
of the cloth are indicated where they form around
the cuffs, the elbows and falling away from the belt
buckle. Both sleeves have wide embroidered bands
(Ar. ṭirāz) decorated with a looping ornament rather
than the more usual epigraphy.
The headdresses worn by the figures consist of a
variety of tiaras crowning long tresses of hair draped
along the shoulders; some also have exaggerated
curls on their faces and fringes showing from under
the rim of the headband. Most wear a patterned
Figure 8. band edged with pearls, probably made of a stiff
(No. 11) Vessel in the form of a seated woman
breastfeeding a child, stonepaste, painted with black fabric, with a central diadem which stands out
under a transparent turquoise glaze, H. 26.8 cm, W. 14 cm; from the background pattern and may have been a
Syria, Raqqa, circa 1200–60. Doha Museum of Islamic
Art PO.787.2008 © The Museum of Islamic Art, Qatar separate, brooch-like ornament.17 In some cases the
Museums/ Samar Kassab. band is worn over a veil of transparent fabric which
falls down the back in a triangle with an ornament
and these qualitative variations suggest that the attached at the bottom, perhaps to weight the veil
sculptures were acquired by a cross-section of and keep it lying flat (Nos. 1, 2, 4). Three of the
women, with varying financial resources. headdresses (Nos. 10–13; Figure 8) have projections
Typical female costume consisted of several over the ears and appear to be attached below the
layers, starting with loose trousers tied at the waist chin with a band which is painted to look like a
Figure 7.
There are several instances of production runs of the with a cord, over which a long chemise was worn, chain (Nos. 11 and 13) or in relief (No. 12).
Minaʾi bowl with a seated couple, stonepaste
with an opaque white glaze, in-glaze painted same model; although finished with different glazes, then an outer coat belted at the waist. The width Although it has proved impossible to find similar
with turquoise, lilac, dark blue, pink and yellow
the basic form and proportions are sufficiently close of the sleeves was indicative of rank and status; the earpieces represented elsewhere, a woman wearing
pigments, overglaze painted with red and
black pigments, with leaf gilding, H. 8.5 cm, to suggest they were cast from the same mould (as longer and more ample the sleeves, the higher the a veil secured below the chin with a chain made of
D. 20.4 cm; Iran, Kashan, circa 1150–1200.
for example with Nos. 4 and 5). In their raw state, standing of the wearer.16 Because the female figures pearls appears in a thirteenth-century copy of the
Sarikhani Collection I.CE.2154. Photograph
courtesy of the Sarikhani family. these objects could be produced for approximately are shown seated, the trousers are not visible and Maqamat produced in the Jazira. Her description as
the same cost and it was the quality of the surface their footwear is also tucked away except where one the ‘slave’ of Abu Zayd belies her costume, which is
decoration that determined their eventual value. slippered foot is visible (Nos. 11, 12, 14; Figure 8). The very elaborate and suggests she is a woman of some
The main difference is often of scale, with the Berlin figure is wearing a transparent chemise under wealth. The textile of her robe is in two shades of
same subjects made in a range of sizes and glazes, which both breasts are outlined and from which blue with gold birds and gold ṭirāz bands; her head is

248 essays in Honour of robert Hillenbrand mel Anie Gibson 249

 a related function. Carved in relief in Kufic script
around the body are the words: ‘and healing for
what is in the breasts’ (washifāun limā fī l-ṣudūri),
a phrase taken from the Qurʾan (10:75).19 The words
can be interpreted in two ways—that the contents of
the pot were a remedy for an ailing lactating mother
or that they contained milk to supplement a failing
supply [Figure 10].
Discussions of the practice of breastfeeding (Ar.
riḍaʿ or raḍaʿ), which was regarded as essential for
an infant’s physical and psychological wellbeing,
are found in Islamic legal and medical texts. These
generally agree that it is preferable for the mother to
suckle the child, but under certain circumstances she
can be replaced by a wet-nurse.20 Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb
Figure 10.
(The Canon of Medicine) by Ibn Sina (980–1037),
Clay pot with Kufic inscription in relief,
the outstanding medical textbook of the medieval unglazed red clay, H. 5.2 cm; Iraq (?) circa
800–900. Athens, Benaki Museum 16754.
period, includes four chapters on the hygiene of
Image courtesy of the Benaki Museum.
new-born infants: in the section on breastfeeding
the author advocates that the infant should be
nourished from the mother’s breast but that a wet- ‘suctioned’ from the mother’s breast, and another
nurse can be employed if the mother is ill or there with which to feed it to the child, a clear indication

Figure 9. is any abnormality with her milk. A second Iranian

21
that the breastfeeding vessels could have been used
The ‘slave’ of Abu Zayd, detail medical author, Ismail ibn Hasan Jurjani (circa to contain breast milk, from either a wet-nurse or the
from the Maqamat of al-Ḥariri,
Jazira, possibly produced at the 1042–1136), writing almost a century later (circa 1112), mother, especially in the period immediately after
Artuqid court, circa 1200–40. makes a slightly different recommendation—that the infant’s birth.
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de
France Ar. 3929, folio 151r. new-borns should initially be fed with the mother’s With the exception of the ceramic figures,
milk, but not by the mother, to allow her to fully depictions in Islamic art of the act of breastfeeding
recover from the birth: are rare, found only in a few manuscripts where
wrapped in a red and gold scarf with bands of pearls of the contents remains elusive. One possibility is women are shown suckling children within an
tied around her chin and neck and she has gold breast milk, perhaps from a wet-nurse rather than a However, until one week or more as the encampment. Two examples, both dated at least a
jewellery [Figure 9]. Her appearance is so unlike that mother, with the consciously evocative form of the mother relieves from labour pain and its century after the figures, are in an illustrated copy of
of other women represented in the same manuscript vessel designed to imbue the liquid with therapeutic associated distemperament, it would be al-Biruni’s Al-Athar al-Baqiya ‘an al-Qurun al-Khaliya
that she might well be a foreigner, and the pearl powers. The suggestion of a similar practice comes beneficial if another person helps…and dated 707/1307 in which an old woman oversees a
chain of her headdress is thus no easier to place. from pharaonic Egypt where a group of burnished the mother would milk herself every day younger one as she suckles a child in a tent;23 and
terracotta vessels with a tall spout shaped as women until the day she continues breastfeeding in a copy of the Maqamat dated 738/1337, where an
feeding or carrying infants were found in tombs her new-born. Within a day, milk should individual referred to as jāriya, or slave girl, sits in a
Breast Milk dated circa 1470–1370 BCE: theories on their contents be suctioned twice or thrice and firstly fed tent breastfeeding a child (the image of a nursing
include breast milk from a woman who had given gradually until child begins sucking. 22
woman is irrelevant to the story and not repeated
Each breastfeeding figure is shaped as a vessel with birth to a boy or breast milk from a wet-nurse. 18
in other manuscripts).24 In a loose folio likely to
a pouring lip, indicating that it was intended to Within an Islamic context a small unglazed pot His words imply that at least two different vessels be an illustration from Nizami’s Layla wa Majnun,
function as a container, although the precise nature datable to the ninth century seems to have had would be required: one to contain the milk that was originally in a copy of the Khamsa made for Shah

250 essays in Honour of robert Hillenbrand mel Anie Gibson 251

 Tahmasp dated between 1539 and 1543, the suckling
woman is once again seated in a tent and watched
over by an older woman.25 The image also appears
in two unrelated contexts: in a copy of the Jamiʿ
al-Tawarikh datable circa 1430, where the future
Ilkhanid ruler Ghazan Khan is shown as a baby,
swaddled in a green cloth and wearing a white cap,
being suckled by a wet-nurse while his mother rests
alongside her on a couch. Both women wear the tall
Mongol headdress and cross-over gowns, although
the inferior social status of the wet-nurse is indicated
by her coarser features and a simpler headdress
with no feather [Figure 11]. Finally, in another loose
folio a woman suckles a child alongside a group of
monks who are reading and writing in a building
of several storeys with walls decorated with scenes
from the New Testament. The meaning of the scene
is difficult to decipher but given the context, the
artist may have intended the nursing woman to be
an oblique allusion to the Virgin Mary with Jesus at
the breast.26 There are images of Mary holding Jesus
in manuscripts such as the Qisas al-Anbiyaʾ and a
Figure 12.
painting in the Diez album in Berlin, but in neither Figure of Isis holding out a breast to Horus,
case is she shown actually breastfeeding the child.27 siliceous body with turquoise glaze, H. 17 cm,
W. 5.1 cm; Egypt, 332–30 BCE. New York,
Metropolitan Museum of Art 55.121.5, Joseph
Pulitzer Bequest Fund, 1955. Image in the
public domain.
Maria Lactans

A brief article by Ernst Kühnel, writing in 1914, asked Antiquity had become the most widely venerated
whether the Berlin ceramic figure [Figure 1] could divinity of the Graeco-Roman world. In Egypt,
be interpreted as a depiction of Maria Lactans, Mary sculptures of the goddess offering her left breast
suckling Jesus. Although Kühnel was ultimately
28
to her son Horus, naked and resting on her lap,
unconvinced, the implications of his suggestion were made throughout the Pharaonic period, and
deserve further consideration since the figures were continued into the Roman period [Figure 12].30
being produced at a period when the Middle East Large numbers of terracotta figurines in the form of
experienced a remarkable surge in the production pregnant and breastfeeding women have also been
of Christian art, stimulated by the Crusader presence found at domestic and religious sites all over Egypt.
in the region as well as the patronage of affluent Dating from the fifth to the eighth centuries, these
Christians living under Islamic rule. 29
seem to have played a part in Christian devotional
Figure 11.
Ghazan Khan suckled by a wet-nurse, Jamiʿ al Tawarikh The cult of the mother goddess, widespread practice, although the suggestion that the familiar
by Rashid al-Din, Tabriz, 1430. Paris, Bibliothèque
across western Asia for millennia, eventually image of Isis was seamlessly transformed into Mary
nationale de France MS. Suppl. Pers. 1113, folio 210v.
Image courtesy Bibliothèque nationale de France. crystallised into the cult of Isis, who by Late remains contentious.31 David Frankfurter speculates

252 essays in Honour of robert Hillenbrand mel Anie Gibson 253

that the figurines, which he contends resist Muslim scholars and European pilgrims. The spring
identification with either Isis or Mary, functioned at al-Matariyya in northern Cairo marked the spot
on several levels of meaning for the female devotee: where the Holy Family apparently stopped during
as maternal surrogates of a saint, as fecundity their flight from Herod; its waters were believed to
talismans and as representations of the hoped-for have healing properties and women came to bathe
outcome for which they were praying. 32
there on certain holy days.38 The grotto below the
Firmly identifiable images of Mary, frequently Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where Mary
depicted holding or breastfeeding Jesus, began to is said to have nursed Jesus and to have splashed
appear in wall-paintings in the sixth and seventh a few drops of her breast milk onto the ground,
centuries, in monasteries and churches in Egypt, was considered the source of a powerful remedy
Palestine, Syria and Lebanon. In Egypt, a stylised for women experiencing difficulty in lactating:
image of the Virgin, sitting on a throne and powdered stone recovered from the grotto walls
extending her flattened right breast towards the became imbued with miraculous properties, a
mouth of her son, was found painted onto the walls cure repeatedly mentioned in pilgrim accounts.39
of three cells at the monastery of Apa Jeremiah at For instance, the Swiss friar Felix Fabri (1437–1502) Figure 13.
Convent of Saidnaya, cloister.
Saqqara, at Dair al-Suryan in Wadi Natrun and in actually refers to a milky liquid oozing out of the Photograph Melanie Gibson.
the Red Monastery Church at Sohag.33 At the Church rock that was collected by pilgrims in small flasks;40
of the Nativity in Bethlehem, icons commissioned Greffin Affagart (circa 1490–1557) describes how
by pilgrims were painted onto thirty columns on barren women or those who could not produce milk, which carefully refer to the incarnation (tajassud) of Jews and Christians gather at the church of Aya
the south aisle and nave between 1130 and 1187; in his words ‘Turks, Moors and Christians’, cured the breasts and are now thought to be the source for Dimitrios Kuruçesme in Istanbul to collect the
an image of the breastfeeding Virgin was painted themselves by drinking powder scraped from the the legend as it appeared in later Western accounts.44 milky white water seeping from the rocks of its
on pillar number twenty-eight. Early thirteenth-
34
grotto walls mixed with water; and the Franciscan
41
Burchard of Strasbourg, an envoy sent by the Holy sacred spring which has a reputation for healing
century wall-paintings depicting the same image monk Francesco Suriano (circa 1450–1530) mentions Roman Emperor Frederick I to the court of Salah children and helping women having difficulty with
were found in a small oratory dedicated to Sayyida the drinking of the powdered stone concoction by al-Din who visited Saidnaya in 571/1175, observed that breastfeeding.48
Naya at Kfar Schleiman in Lebanon, and in the women unable to lactate, and its addition to bread Christians and Muslims visited the convent on the The evidence, in terms of depictions of Maria
church of Saint Sergius and Bacchus, north of baked by Muslim women who delivered it around feasts of the Assumption and Nativity of the Virgin in Lactans in churches and monasteries, together with
Damascus. A chapel named for Sayyida al-Darr in
35
the region to help expectant mothers: just one slice order to seek baraka and to make votive offerings. 45
pilgrimage sites associated with the Virgin and
the Qadisha Valley in Lebanon suggests it may also (una fetarella de quel pane) would prevent the pains Abu al-Makarim, a Coptic priest writing around this promising her intercession in obstetrical matters,
have had such a fresco, since al-darr means ‘milk’.36 of childbirth.42 date, describes how four to five thousand pilgrims points to a tradition observed largely in western
Respect for, and indeed devotion to Mary, is The most celebrated site, widely known and would gather on feast days, and each Muslim, Islamic regions. Extrapolating from this, one might
deeply embedded in Islam. She is the only woman venerated by Christian and Muslim pilgrims who Frankish Christian, Nestorian and Melkite devotee suggest that vessels in the form of a woman suckling
to be named in the Qurʾan—others are referred to flocked to visit its miraculous icon known as was given a phial of the healing oil to take away. A46
a child were manufactured in response to a localised
in terms of familial relations such as wife, daughter ‘Chaghoura’ (Syriac for ‘Illustrious’ or ‘Renowned’), later description written by Shihab al-Din al-Umari demand from women in Egypt and Syria. The fact
and so on, but Mary’s name appears thirty-four was the convent of Saidnaya, a short distance north of (1300–49) describes how oily water resembling that more than half of the examples are clearly
times, and the nineteenth sura (Sura Maryam) is Damascus [Figure 13]. The earliest sources, dating to
43
sesame or olive oil dripped from a rock and was of Iranian manufacture is no obstruction to this
named after her. This veneration translated into
37
the last quarter of the twelfth century, describe how collected in ‘elegant glass vessels’. It is notable that,
47
suggestion since Kashan wares were famous and
acts of pilgrimage (ziyāra), made especially by an image of Mary suckling Jesus miraculously became whatever the act of devotion performed in situ at widely exported. There is very little comparable
women seeking the Virgin’s intercession in matters incarnated and exuded oil from breasts painted on each holy place, its effects could be prolonged by textual evidence for similar acts of ziyāra to Christian
of fertility, childbirth and lactation. At least two its wooden surface. The legend surrounding this taking something away from the site: water and sites in Iran, except for one much later reference by
sites associated with the birth and suckling of Jesus icon was transmitted in many accounts written by oil in the cases of al-Matariyya and Saidnaya, and Jean Chardin who mentions that childless women
were visited by both Muslim and Christian women, visiting European pilgrims but the earliest references powder to be reconstituted into liquid from the (les femmes stériles) made pilgrimages to Christian
a fact remarked on, and sometimes condemned by are in two Arabic manuscripts dated 1183 and 1232 ‘milk grotto’ in Bethlehem. Even today, Muslims, churches in pursuit of a cure for their condition.49

254 essays in Honour of robert Hillenbrand mel Anie Gibson 255

 lacking milk’.56 He is represented in physical form as However, there is one instance of modern Shiʿi votive
a doll or cradle which is passed around by the female practice which requires human simulacra to be
participants. The use of figural effigies such as
57
offered in exchange for the promise of healing. The
mannequins and dolls in the celebration of ʿAshura male and female figures are made of dough stuffed
is well known in modern practice, but has not with chick-peas, an ingredient that is believed to
been documented before the early Safavid period have apotropaic properties, and are thrown into a
(1501–1722). A unique image of a woman suckling
58
river, presumably accompanied by prayers, in the

Figure 14.
a child while sitting in a cradle-like structure [Figure hope of a successful outcome.62
Fragmentary minaʾi half-star tile, 14], a piece of furniture otherwise undocumented
seated woman breastfeeding a
child in a cradle, stonepaste with
in this period, shows surprising resonances with
an opaque white glaze, in-glaze the modern visualisation of ʿAli Asghar, and may
painted with turquoise and dark
blue, overglaze painted with red
therefore have a long history. The fragmentary minaʾi Even today, in an age of good medical care, the
and black pigments, leaf gilding, tile is contemporary with the figurines, and the pursuit of motherhood can make women vulnerable.
H. 8.5 cm, D. 11 cm; Iran, Kashan
circa 1150–1200 (found in Rayy).
depiction of the naked infant and the way its hand In the pre-modern age, each step of the child-
Ex-collection, F.R. Martin, is held up to the woman’s breast to guide it into its bearing process was fraught with anxiety and
Stockholm. From La Céramique
dans l’art Musulman, Recueil de
mouth is also reminiscent of the way the figures are difficulty—all the way from conception to keeping
cent planches en couleurs; publié portrayed. the infant alive through its first months and years—
sous la direction de Henri Rivière,
Tome II, Paris 1913, plate 50.
Images play a crucial role in Shiʿi hagiography little wonder then, that women sought protection
and devotional life. One aspect of ritual practice is wherever they could. Their options included carrying
the nazr (votive offering) which can take various an amulet such as a small figure, an engraved ring,
Such a practice would have been relatively easy during the Battle of Karbala on 10 Muharram 61/10 forms, including manufactured images. The vow or a metal pendant, a written tablet, or an inscribed
in Isfahan in the early decades of the seventeenth October 680. There is little evidence of how the
52
supplication with which a pictorial nazr is presented shirt— its only essential characteristic being the
century when he was writing, since at least two dozen rituals commemorating this battle during the seeks healing, protection or assistance through hoped-for efficacy of its protection.63 Help might
churches stood in the New Julfa district.50 It seems ten days of Muharram known as ʿAshura were the medium of the holy figure depicted, who, it is also be sought by drinking from a medicine-bowl
unlikely that Chardin’s reference, which stands alone, performed in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.53 hoped, will act as a mediator between the devotee inscribed with images and formulae in magic and
was alluding to an established tradition. However, Maria Vittoria Fontana, in a long article and God. The gift of a figurine in the form of a
59
ordinary scripts; the liquid drunk from such metal
investigating the material culture of the memorial woman breastfeeding a child, one that memorialised containers promised a range of cures including the
services (majālis al-taʿziyeh) from the twelfth century an important mother in the Shiʿi canon, seems an reduction of childbirth pains or an increase in breast
A Shiʿi Connection? onwards, raised the possibility that the ceramic obvious, although entirely speculative possibility. milk.64 Perhaps the most efficacious remedy, and
breastfeeding figurines could have been intended as The offering of votive gifts shaped as human or certainly the most demanding in terms of effort and
In his study of the lustre ceramics produced in representations of Fatima, daughter of the Prophet animal figures or even body parts was common financial cost, was ziyāra, the making of a pilgrimage
Kashan, Oliver Watson suggested that the great Muhammad and wife of ʿAli, holding their son in Roman and Early Christian cults and became to a holy site reputed for its miracles. In these special
number of Shiʿi shrines and tombs decorated with Husayn. In her opinion such a depiction could have widespread in Europe from the thirteenth century places, often associated with the Virgin Mary, women
lustre tiles in the period from 1203 to 1339 implied been inspired by contemporary representations onwards. As Christiane Gruber has pointed out,
60
gathered to pray, to leave votive offerings, to take
the Shiʿi affiliation of the potters themselves. More
51
of Mary feeding Jesus. Another protagonist who
54
making votive offerings has long been a devotional away whichever therapeutic substance the site was
recently James Allan cited a group of minaʾi bowls was killed in the Battle of Karbala and features in act in both Sunni and Shiʿi practices, although it famous for: oil from the breastfeeding icon Saidnaya,
inscribed with dates in the month of Muharram commemorative events is a baby: ʿAli Asghar, the remains poorly documented in the medieval period, water from the spring at Matariyya, or white powder
as possible evidence of the involvement of Shiʿi infant son of Husayn and Rubab bint Imraʾ al-Qays, except tangentially in the condemnation of religious from the ‘milk grotto’ at Bethlehem.
craftsmen in their manufacture. The bowls depict, whose age varies from a newborn to twelve months scholars such as Ahmad Ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328). 61
The breastfeeding figures were produced at a
according to one interpretation, scenes from the old. Nawha (lamentation poems) recited in some
55
His list of forbidden offerings includes camels, moment in which ceramic technology made possible
taʿziyeh, the Shiʿi ritual that re-enacts the death of modern Muharram celebrations remember the sheep, items made of silver and gold, candles and the realisation of three-dimensional sculptures. Of
Husayn and his male children and companions infant not by name but as ‘the cradle of the infant lamp oil, but makes no mention of human figures. all the types manufactured in the centres of Kashan

256 essays in Honour of robert Hillenbrand mel Anie Gibson 257

and Raqqa, the breastfeeding form stands out from votive offerings to be left at holy sites reputed to give 2.
Figure of a woman suckling a child from the left
more conventional themes associated with courtly women assistance during conception, pregnancy
breast; stonepaste body, white glaze, painted
life, and highlights the needs and vulnerabilities of and delivery, cast in a shape which mimicked with two shades of lustre, blue-glazed interior;
H. 22.2 cm, W. 13.8 cm. Iran, Kashan, circa 1150–1220.
women. In the absence of much evidence beyond the hoped-for outcome; or were receptacles for
the ceramic figures themselves, it is only possible liquids and substances collected from those same New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art 68.223.4
(tests under ultraviolet light in 1973 revealed
to speculate on their function and meaning. Their sites. Underlying these more obvious practical
restoration to the crown and parts of the hair at
vessel form suggests that they were containers, suggestions lies the implicit symbolism of this the back).

possibly for breast milk—the act of suckling form that relates to images of the perfect mother as
The woman wears a garment with no apparent
modelled in a lifelike way to invoke whatever embodied by Mary breastfeeding Jesus, Fatima with openings; the fabric is patterned with a foliate
scroll. There are no ṭirāz bands on the sleeves,
talismanic protection a depiction of the act might Husayn or Rubab with ʿAli Asghar.
the wide cuffs are lined in a contrasting spotted
offer. A second possibility is that the figures were fabric. The long-haired child, wearing a spotted
garment, holds its arm up to guide the breast
into its mouth. A large circular buckle is shown
low on the front of the garment. The breasts
are placed unnaturally high—the right breast
is coloured in lustre and the left breast is
elongated and held in the child’s hand. She
wears a necklace of circular links with a central
Catalogue of Breastfeeding Figures medallion. Two strands of long hair are visible
hanging the length of one shoulder and down
her front. She wears a crown-like headdress
made with a band of floral ornament tied by a
1. ribbon on the back of the head over a veil which
Figure of a woman suckling a child from the falls down her back. The face is damaged, and the
left breast; stonepaste body, part-white and features are not clear except for a rounded chin
part-blue glaze, painted with lustre, blue-glazed with a central tattoo or dimple.
interior; an opening in the head, H. 36 cm,
W. 23 cm. Iran, Kashan, circa 1150–1200.

Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst I.2622

3.
(bought in Baghdad from the dealer Meymarian
Figure of a woman suckling a child from the left
in 1914 and given as a present to the museum by
breast; stonepaste with blue glaze, painted with
Franz von Mendelssohn [1865–1935]).
yellow lustre, blue-glazed interior; H. 18.5 cm.
Iran, Kashan, circa 1150–1220.
The cross-legged woman cradles a child with
both arms supporting its horizontal body; the
Sold at auction in Paris, Boisgirard et Associés,
naked, long-haired child suckles from the nipple
Arts d’Orient, Arts de l’Islam, Art Arménien, Art
of her exposed left breast and raises its hand to
du Textile, 8 October 2004, lot 282.
guide the breast to its open mouth. The woman
wears an open coat with narrow sleeves fastened
The entire surface is coated in blue glaze which
by a circular buckle below her hands over a
obscures the details The lustre was applied to
shift, through which the breast protrudes. The
indicate the hair, headdress and garment pattern
fabric of the coat is decorated with a pattern of
of the woman, as well as the child’s hair and
crescents and confronted palmette shapes, the
garment but the results are blurred and difficult
cloth-folds are indicated around the wrists and
to distinguish.
the buckle; the ṭirāz bands on the sleeves have
a looping ornament. The woman’s hair hangs
down almost to her knees in long strands; more and bridge of the nose have been repainted but
strands fall along her shoulders and the rest is originally the arching eyebrows would have
gathered into a single tress which hangs down joined and a tattoo might have been painted
her back weighted by a circular ornament at the in the centre. The eyes are extended at the
end. She wears a crown-shaped headdress with outer corners; a line is painted along the eyelid
a triangular peak at the centre and a moulded possibly to indicate kohl. The nose is moulded
pearl base; a small crescent-shaped fringe of and outlined, and the mouth is small. A tattoo,
hair is just visible below the crown. The face possibly epigraphic but unreadable, is painted
is circular with narrow eyes, high cheekbones along the centre of each cheek, the right a mirror
and a dimpled chin. The area of the forehead image of the left.

258 essays in Honour of robert Hillenbrand mel Anie Gibson 259

4. 6.
Figure of a woman suckling a child from the Figure of a woman suckling a child from the The woman wears a garment patterned with
left breast; stonepaste body, black underglaze left breast; stonepaste body, black underglaze long-legged flying birds Her right breast is
painting, transparent turquoise glaze; painting, transparent turquoise glaze; H. 20 cm. spherical and placed next to her collarbone,
H. 20.5 cm, W. 13.7 cm. Iran, Kashan, Iran, Kashan, circa 1150–1220. while the one from which the infant suckles is
circa 1150–1220. placed lower. Her hair is in long tresses that hang
Sold at auction in Paris, Hôtel Drouot-Richelieu, along the shoulders and she wears a pointed
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art 65.194.2. Archéologie, Orientalisme, Arts d’Orient, headdress with a pattern in slight relief. The
Océanie, Haute Époque, 13 June 2003, lot 327. face is circular with thin eyebrows and almond-
The cross-legged woman cradles a child with shaped extended eyes, the nose is in relief and
both arms supporting its body, the head in the the mouth is small.
crook of her elbow and the feet supported by her
right hand. The oval-shaped breasts, which are
placed too high on the body, are heavily outlined
and cross-hatched. The eyes, eyebrows nose and
mouth of the infant are clearly drawn and there
7.
seem to be tattoos on the cheek; the child is
Figure of a woman suckling a child from the The decoration of sprays of palm-like leaves
swaddled in a cloth which covers the head and
left breast; stonepaste body, black underglaze extends across the entire surface: no distinction
body. The woman wears a garment patterned
painting, transparent turquoise glaze; H. 19.1 cm, is made for the moulded contours of the child
with a sketchily-drawn foliate pattern with wide
base 11 x 6.4 cm. Iran, Kashan, circa 1150–1220. or the woman’s limbs. The woman’s left arm
hanging sleeves and a keyhole neckline; a series
supports the body of the child which has a large
of dots around the neck may indicate a necklace
Cincinnati Art Museum, Given in honor of head and raises its left arm to touch her small
or a band of fabric attached to the headdress.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles F. Williams by their pendulous breast. Its features are not marked
Her hair falls in long tresses over the shoulders
children, 1948.11. out but the facial features, strands of hair and
to the waist and appears under the edge of the
headdress of the woman are painted with swift
headdress; this has foliate decoration around
brushstrokes. A pattern of alternating curves
the band and is held together with a ribbon tied
almost like swimming fish run around the tiara,
at the back of the head. It sits over a triangular
the eyebrows and downward curving eyes are in
veil, patterned with spots and hangs in a point,
bold strokes; a vertical stroke on the forehead
secured with an ornament; loose strands of
and curves on the cheeks might indicate tattoos.
hair hang outside of the veil. Her face is circular
with a dimpled chin, narrow almond-shaped,
extended eyes, thick arching eyebrows joined at
the centre, and a small pursed mouth.
8.
Figure of a woman suckling a child from the Like No. 7, the decoration is of a palm-like leaf,
left breast; stonepaste body, black underglaze but iridescence obscures most of the detail.
painting, transparent turquoise glaze largely
obscured by iridescence, H. 15.2 cm, D. 12.7 cm.
Iran, Kashan, circa 1150–1220.

5. San Francisco Asian Arts Museum,

Figure of a woman suckling a child from the left Avery Brundage Collection B60P1957.
breast; stonepaste body, badly damaged surface © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
with no evidence of original glaze; H. 20.1 cm,
W. 13.8 cm. Iran, Kashan, circa 1150–1220.

Washington D.C., Freer Sackler F1911.615,

Gift of Charles Lang Freer. (Freer noted it
was found in Raqqa).

9.
The figure is close in shape and size to No. 4 and Figure of a woman suckling a child from the left The figure relates closely in scale and shape to
could have been made in the same mould. It is so breast; stonepaste body, opaque turquoise glaze, No. 8, but with a turquoise monochrome glaze.
damaged by burial that the surface decoration is H. 20 cm. Iran, Kashan, circa 1150–1200.
impossible to reconstruct and only the parts of
the figure in relief are visible. The woman cradles Sold at auction Paris, Piasa, Archéologie,
the child with both arms and it extends its hand Art d’Orient, 13 April 2005, lot 126.
to guide the breast into its mouth; the hair and
eye of the child are in relief. The woman’s breasts
are placed high on the chest; her only visible
facial features are the heavy eyebrows which join
the top of the nose.

260 essays in Honour of robert Hillenbrand mel Anie Gibson 261

10. 12.
Figure of a woman suckling a child from the Figure of a woman suckling a child from the
right breast; stonepaste body, black underglaze right breast; stonepaste body, turquoise glaze
painting, transparent turquoise glaze; H. 18 cm. obscured by iridescence, possible traces of
Syria, Raqqa (?), circa 1200–60. underglaze painting; H. 27.5 cm. Syria, Raqqa (?),
circa 1200–60.
From H. Anavian, Habib Anavian Collection
of Iranian Art from the 8th to 19th Century, Paris, private collection. From Sophie Makariou,
New York 1976, figure 28B. L’Orient de Saladin: L’Art des Ayyoubides, Exposition
présentée a l’Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris
The woman cradles the child in an upright 2002, cat. 138.
position, it suckles from the right breast, which
is placed too high on the body; the left breast The woman’s garment has wide sleeves with
is marked with a central nipple. The pattern of ṭirāz bands, but no more details other than the
its garment, a sketchy foliate scroll, is similar to wide cuffs are visible. Both breasts are placed
the woman’s but is outlined to indicate baggy high on the body. The headdress has a triangular
trousers and a shirt. The child’s long eye, eyebrow peak and a band of design in relief; it is attached
and mouth are clearly marked, and it has a under the chin by a band of fabric or a chain. The
shock of hair which extends over the back of the protruding sections may indicate her ears or a
neck, or it wears a cap. The woman’s garment is part of the headdress. The woman has indented
patterned with a foliate scroll; it has narrow cuffs eyes, eyebrows that connect to a straight pointed
and no discernible neckline. She holds a cloth in nose and a wide mouth. Details of the child’s
her left hand. The headdress rises to a peak with a head and body are moulded in relief.
central medallion enclosing a six-petalled motif,
no hair is visible along the shoulders but possibly
it hangs down at the back. She has a circular face,
carefully drawn eyes and arching eyebrows, a
straight nose and downward curved mouth. Her
forehead and cheeks are tattooed, and she has a
prominent dimple on her chin which is outlined.

11. 13.
Figure of a woman suckling a child from the Double-faced torso of a woman suckling a
right breast; stonepaste body, black underglaze child from the right breast; stonepaste body,
painting, transparent turquoise glaze; H. 26.8 cm, black underglaze painting, transparent
W. 14 cm. Syria, Raqqa (?), circa 1200–60. turquoise glaze, H. 20.7 cm. Syria, Raqqa (?),
circa 1200–60.
Doha Museum of Islamic Art PO.787.2008.
Cairo, Museum of Islamic Art 14633.
The woman wears a garment patterned with Photograph Ernst Grube.
a sketchily drawn foliate scroll with a circular
buckle; it has wide hanging sleeves striped from This unique example is a double-sided hollow
the elbow. Both her breasts are outlined and torso of a woman painted with the same image
placed unevenly just below the collarbone; the on both sides, but otherwise resembling No. 12.
nipples are marked as dots. The child suckles She cradles an infant who is guiding the right
from the right breast; it is swaddled in a fabric breast into its mouth; its body, face and arm
patterned with dots. The eyes, eyebrows, nose are in relief. The woman’s hands are carefully
and mouth are clearly drawn, and it has long hair drawn, one is holding the child’s legs and the
or a cap. The woman wears a tiara-like headdress other hovers underneath. Her garment is highly
attached below the chin with a spotted band of patterned, with ṭirāz bands on both sleeves which
fabric; the hair is hidden except for two loops on are narrow at the cuff with a contrasting band of
the forehead and two curls on the cheeks. Along fabric. Her headdress has a straight top edge and
her back the hair falls in two long plaits braided is fastened under the chin with a chain of dotted
with ribbon. She has a circular face, heavily- links. A curled lock of hair is arranged along each
outlined chin, narrow almond-shaped extended cheek. She has thick eyebrows, almond-shaped
eyes, thick arching eyebrows joined at the middle eyes, a straight nose and a downward-curved
and extending into the line of the nose and a mouth. Her cheeks and forehead have tattoos
small pursed mouth. She has several tattoos on and her chin is dimpled and outlined. The figure
her face: dotted rosettes on the cheeks, a palmette ends at the waist which flares out slightly.
on the chin and another on the forehead.

262 essays in Honour of robert Hillenbrand mel Anie Gibson 263

Figure Holding Breast but No Child

14. 16.
Figure of woman holding her right breast; Fragmentary head; stonepaste body, white
stonepaste body, white glaze, dark lustre. glaze, blue-glazed interior; lustre, H. 12 cm.
Iran, Kashan circa 1150–1200. Iran, Kashan, circa 1150–1220.

Cairo, Museum of Islamic Art 16143. Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst, I.5336.
Photograph Ernst Grube.
The details of the face and tiara are similar to
The woman sits cross-legged with her right No. 15, although the design on the headdress is
foot visible, holding her arm across her chest different, with a central diadem and patterns
as if to hold a baby but instead touching her radiating out from the centre. The head has
exposed left breast with her right hand which almond-shaped eyes extended at the comers and
is disproportionately large. The right hand and a line of kohl on the eyelids; the eyebrows are
left breast are moulded as are the facial features, curved and flick up at the centre to emphasise
but the right breast is flat. She wears a coat open a circular tattoo on the forehead. The nose is
at the front with sleeves narrow at the elbow moulded and outlined and extends down from
and wide at the cuff, in a fabric decorated with the inner comers of the eyes. A scalloped fringe
circular floral motifs. Her hair falls in long tresses protrudes from the tiara and curls are painted
down the front of her body, curled at the ends; along the cheeks.
behind her back her hair is bound in two tresses
weighted with a large ornament at the base. She
wears a crenellated headdress with a central
motif. Her eyes are narrow and extended with
thin arching brows, the nose is moulded and
coloured in, the mouth is large, the lips thickly
painted. The chin is outlined and painted with a Notes
circular dimple or tattoo, more tattoos; circular
tattoos are painted on her cheeks, forehead and
at the corners of the eyes. * The subject of this article is taken from my doctoral thesis: ‘Takūk as a cloth, a round object, a goblet, a musical instrument. In
and Timthāl: A Study of Glazed Ceramic Sculpture from Iran and some cases the figures hold their hands together or above their
Syria circa 1150–1250’, submitted to SOAS, University of London in heads as if in prayer See Gibson, ‘Takūk and Timthāl’, 1:140–164,
2010. Robert Hillenbrand read the text in its final stages and made 2: nos. 24–39, 44–56, 75–76, 83–87, 93–97.
many valuable suggestions and edits, for which I was profoundly 4. In several cases this has been damaged and repaired without
Detached Heads grateful. It has been my great pleasure to edit this volume of essays the pointed lip, as in Nos. 2, 3 and 4.
dedicated to him. 5. Mason, ‘Medieval Iranian Lustre-Painted and Associated Wares’
identifies two phases within this fifty-year period, Kashan
1. For Kashan see Margaret Graves, KASHAN vii. KASHAN WARE, Lustre-Painted Group Three (KLP3) 1150–75 and Kashan Lustre-
15. Encyclopaedia Iranica, online edition, 2014 (http://www. Painted Group Four (KLP4) 1175–1200, 113. Oliver Watson is a
Fragmentary head; stonepaste body, white glaze, iranicaonline.org/articles/kashan-vii-kashan-ware); Robert little more conservative in his dating, his ‘monumental style’
lustre, H.14.7 cm, W. 10.4 cm. Iran, Kashan, Mason, ‘Mediaeval Iranian Lustre-Painted and Associated and ‘miniature style’ are both dated 1175–1200, see Persian
circa 1150–1220 (found at Rayy). Wares: Typology in a Multidisciplinary Study’, Iran 35, 1997, Lustre Ware, London 1985, 45–85.
103–35. The situation for Raqqa wares is more complex, with 6. Motifs KL.3, Motif KL.4, see Mason, ‘Medieval Iranian Lustre-
Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, 48.1192 most scholars acknowledging that objects long described as Painted and Associated Wares’, 110, figure 5.
‘Raqqa ware’ could have been produced at various sites within 7. Gibson, ‘Takūk and Timthāl’, 1, 104–109, 376.
A circular face with narrow eyes extended at the larger Syrian region known as bilād al-shām, including 8. Mason suggests this date in ‘Medieval Syrian Lustre-Painted
the corners and a line of kohl on the eyelids; Damascus. For a discussion of this issue see Martina Rugiadi, and Associated Wares’, 185; Marilyn Jenkins-Madina, Raqqa
the eyebrows are curved and taper off at the ‘Stonepaste technology in Syria and Iran’, Court & Cosmos: The Revisited: Ceramics of Ayyūbid Syria, New York 2006, 186–87,
outside edges. The tip of the nose is outlined Great Age of the Seljuqs, eds. Sheila Canby, Deniz Beyazit, Martina attributes production of the finest black under turquoise
and below it is painted a small mouth with small Rugiadi and A. C. S. Peacock, New York 2016, 185–86. See also wares to the period of al-Malik al-Ashraf Musa, who resided
marks projecting from the bottom lip and lines Mason, ‘Medieval Syrian Lustre-Painted and Associated Wares, in the city from 597–625/1201–28. For the development of the
extending down the chin, which is also outlined Levant 29.1, January 1997, 169–200; Marilyn Jenkins-Madina, technique in Kashan see Oliver Watson, Ceramics from Islamic
around the base. There are tattoos on her Raqqa Revisited: Ceramics of Ayyūbid Syria, New York 2006, argues Lands, London 2004, 333–45.
cheekbones and in the middle of the forehead. convincingly for Raqqa as the main production centre. 9. Besides the breast-feeding woman, these figurines included
The headdress is shaped with a triangular peak 2. Numerical references to the figures in this article relate to the a bovid, two female figures with hands held together, a large
in the centre; the base has a pearl band with a catalogue. female figure with arms raised and a fragmentary head from
rosette in the centre and the upper part a leafy 3. The breastfeeding examples form part of a larger group of a similar piece. Details of the acquisition and a photograph
scroll; the hair extends out of the headdress with female figures with some of the same characteristics, although showing four of the figurines are in Jenkins-Madina, Raqqa
a curl beside each cheekbone. depicted in different positions and holding attributes such Revisited, 26–33, fig.2.10; see also Jonathan Bloom, ‘Raqqa

264 essays in Honour of robert Hillenbrand mel Anie Gibson 265

 Ceramics in the Freer Gallery of Art’, unpublished M.A. Thesis, 24. Oxford, Bodleian Library, Marsh 458, folio 65v; dated 738/1337, ‘“Henceforward All Generations Will Call Me Blessed”: de monsieur le chevalier Chardin en Perse, et autres lieux de l’orient,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 1975, 609–10. Oleg Grabar, The Illustrations of the Maqamāt, Chicago 1984, 219. Medieval Christian Tales of Non-Christian Marian Veneration’, vol. 2, Amsterdam 1711, 151.
10. Valerie Fildes, Breasts, Bottles, and Babies: A History of Infant 25. Cambridge, Harvard University Art Museums, 1958.75, Eleanor Mediterranean Studies 12, 2003, 49–51; and ‘From Practice to 50. Amy Landau and Theo Maarten van Lint, ‘Armenian Merchant
Feeding, Edinburgh 1986, 5. Sims, Peerless Images, Persian Painting and its Source, New Haven Polemic: Shared Saints and Festivals as “Women’s Religion” in Patronage of New Julfa’s Sacred Spaces’, The Religious
11. Apa Jeremiah at Saqqara, Dair al-Suryan in Wadi Natrun and the and London 2002, 257, no. 172. the Medieval Mediterranean’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental Architecture of Non-Muslim Communities Across the Islamic World,
Red Monastery Church at Sohag, for more details see note 33. 26. Istanbul, Topkapı Palace Museum Library Hazine 2153, folio and African Studies, University of London 68.3, 2005, 410. Leiden 2015, 316.
12. This complex glazing is found on only one other figure, a 131v, datable circa 1470–90, David Roxburgh, Turks: A Journey of 40. Felix Fabri (circa 1480–1483 A.D.), trans. Aubrey Stewart, 51. Watson, Persian Lustre Ware, 156.
turbaned male drinker; see London, Victoria & Albert Museum a Thousand Years 600–1600, London 2005, 432, no. 219. Palestine Pilgrims’ Text Society, London 1896, 564. 52. James Allan, The Art and Architecture of Twelver Shiʿism: Iraq, Iran
ME.114-2019, Tim Stanley, Mariam Rosser-Owen, and Stephen 27. Rachel Milstein, Karin Ruhrdanz and Barbara Schmitz, Stories 41. Greffin Affagart, Relation de Terre Sainte (1533–1534), Paris 1902, and the Indian Sub-Continent, London 2012, 80–85.
Vernoit, Palace and Mosque: Islamic Art from the Middle East, of the Prophets: Illustrated Manuscripts of Qisas al-Anbiya, Mazda 136–37. 53. See Yitzhak Nakash, ‘An Attempt to Trace the Origin of the
London 2004, 49, plate 63. 1998; a late fourteenth or early fifteenth painting (Berlin, 42. The text in Italian reads: ‘Item, sopra questa meza luna de Rituals of ʿĀshūrā’, Die Welt Des Islams 33.2, November 1993,
13. For a discussion of māh-ruy see The Moon: A Voyage Through Time, Staatsbibliothek, Diez Album A, f. 71, p. 31, no. 1) shows a porfido, dove stava la Madonna quando partori Christo, per 161–81.
ed. Christiane Gruber, Toronto 2019, 176–79, nos. 48 and 49. church interior with an apparition or painting of the Virgin grande devotione quelle donne machometane fano el pane, 54. Maria Vittoria Fontana, ‘Iconografia Dell’Ahl al-Bayt: Immagini
14. Scott Redford, ‘A Grammar of Rūm Seljuk Ornament’, Les and Child set in a flaming halo, see Massumeh Farhad, ‘The e quello quando è cocto, mandano per tutto el paese; del Di Arte Persiana Dal XII al XX Secolo’, Supplemento agli Annali
Seldjoukides d’Anatolie, ed. Gary Leiser, Mésogeios 25/26, Paris Dīvān of Sultan Ahmad Jalayir and the Diez and Istanbul quale le done de parto, quando se sentono le doglie per voler dell’ Istituto Universitario Orientale 78, Napoli 1994, 26–29,
2006, 306. Albums’, The Diez Albums, eds. J. Gonnella, F. Weis and C. Rauch, parturire, pigliano una fetarella de quel pane, e mangiata che especially note 47.
15. Varqa and Gulshah is a medieval Persian romance composed Boston 2016, 513, fig.18.15. l’ano, subito senza dolore (parturiscono secondo me dissero 55. J. Calmard, ʿALĪ AṢḠAR, Encyclopædia Iranica, I/8, 858–59,
in the masnavi (rhyming couplet) form by the eleventh- 28. Ernst Kühnel, ‘Ein Madonnenmotiv in der Islamischen quelle macometane). Item, le donne che popano, quando per (http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ali-asgar-abdallah).
century poet ʿAyyuqi; a manuscript signed as ‘the work of ʿAbd keramik?’, Amtliche Berichte Aus den Konigl Kunstammlungen 36, mancamento de lacte, non possono lactare, pigliano un pocco 56. David Pinault, ‘Zaynab Bint ‘Ali and the Place of Women of the
al-Muʾmin b. Muhammad, the painter from Khoyy’, datable 1914, 56–60. de quella terra biancha, dove stava la beata Verzene quando Households of the First Imams in Shi‘ite Devotional Literature’,
circa 1200–1250 and probably produced in Anatolia, is in 29. See Bas Snelders, Identity and Christian-Muslim Interaction: popava Christo, e, stemprata cum l’acqua, la bevono e subito Women in the Medieval Islamic World: Power, Patronage, and Piety,
Istanbul, Topkapı Palace Museum Library H.841. Most of the Medieval Art of the Syrian Orthodox from the Mosul Area, bevuta, paiono doe fontanele le poze e mamile.’ Francesco ed. Gavin Hambly, New York 1999, 91.
paintings are reproduced in black and white in Assadullah Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 198, Leuven 2010. Suriano, Il Trattato Di Terra Santa e Dell’Oriente, Milano 1900, 124. 57. Ingvild Flaskerud, Visualizing Belief and Piety in Iranian Shiism,
Souren Melikian-Chirvani, ‘Le roman de Varqe et Golšâh: Essai 30. Sharon Kelly Heyob, The Cult of Isis among Women in the Graeco- 43. It is perhaps no more than coincidence, but the word ‘naya’ London and New York 2012, 189.
sur les rapports de l’esthétique littéraire et de l’esthétique Roman World, Études Préliminaires Aux Religions Orientales which appears both in the name of the Saidnaya convent, and 58. Christiane Gruber, ‘Nazr Necessities: Votive Practices and
plastique dans l’Iran pré-mongol, suivi de la traduction du Dans l’Empire Romain 51, Leiden 1975. the chapel of Sayyida Naya at Kfar Schleiman in Lebanon (see Objects in Iranian Muharram Ceremonies’, Ex Voto: Votive
poème’, Arts asiatiques 22, 1970, 1–264; see also Oya Pancaroğlu, 31. Thomas Matthews and Norman Muller, ‘Isis and Mary in Early note 36), may have some distant etymological association with Giving across Cultures, ed. Ittai Weinryb, New York 2016, 264.
‘Conditions of Love and Conventions of Representation in Icons’, Images of the Mother of God: Perceptions of the Theotokos in Nanaya, an ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, sometimes 59. Flaskerud, Visualizing Belief and Piety, 177–98.
the Illustrated Manuscript of Varqa and Gulshah’, The Image Byzantium, ed. Maria Vassilaki, Aldershot 2005, 3–11. also associated with childbirth, who later became syncretised 60. Megan Holmes, ‘Ex-Votos: Materiality, Memory and Cult’, The
Debate: Figural Representation in Islam and Across the World, 32. David Frankfurter, ‘Female Figurines in Early Christian Egypt: as an aspect of Inanna/Ishtar, see Paul-Alain Beaulieu, The Idol in the Age of Art: Objects, Devotions and the Early Modern
London 2019, 72–83. Reconstructing Lost Practices and Meanings’, Material Religion Pantheon of Uruk During the Neo-Babylonian Period, Leiden 2003, World, eds. Michael Wayne Cole and Rebecca Zorach, Abingdon
16. This information is taken from Elsie H. Peck, ‘CLOTHING viii. 11.2, 3 April 2015, 190–223. 182–88. and New York 2016, 159–82.
In Persia from the Arab Conquest to the Mongol Invasion’, 33. Elisabeth Bolman, ‘The Enigmatic Coptic Galaktotrophousa 44. Daniel Baraz, ‘The Incarnated Icon of Saidnaya Goes West’, Le 61. Gruber, ‘Nazr Necessities’, 248.
Encyclopædia Iranica, V/7, 760–78 (http://www.iranicaonline. and the Cult of the Virgin Mary in Egypt’, Images of the Mother of Muséon 1, 1995, 182–84; for a list of early European accounts see 62. Gruber, ‘Nazr Necessities’, 253.
org/articles/clothing-viii). God: Perceptions of the Theotokos in Byzantium, Aldershot 2005, Eugenio Garosi, ‘The Incarnated Icon of Ṣaydnāyā: Light and 63. For an overview on talismans and amulets see Christiane
17. Patricia Baker refers to this diadem as bağaltak, see ‘A History of 20–21; and ‘The White Monastery Federation and the Angelic Shade’, Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations 26.3, 2015, 341. Gruber, ‘From Prayer to Protection: Amulets and Talismans
Islamic Court Dress in the Middle East’, PhD dissertation, SOAS, Life’, Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition 7th–9th Century, eds. 45. Josef Meri, The Cult of Saints among Muslims and Jews in Medieval in the Islamic World’, Power and Protection: Islamic Art and the
University of London 1986, 121. Helen Evans and Brandie Ratcliff, New York 2012, 77, fig. 28. Syria, Oxford 2002, 211. Supernatural, eds. Francesca Leoni, Pierre Lory and Christiane
18. Janine Bourriau, ‘Pottery Figure Vases of the New Kingdom’, 34. Jaroslav Folda, ‘Twelfth-Century Crusader Art in Bethlehem and 46. Bernard Hamilton, ‘Our Lady of Saidnaiya: An Orthodox Shrine Gruber, Oxford 2016, 33–51; Christiane Gruber and Ashley
Cahiers de la Céramique Égyptienne 1, Cairo 1987, 81–96; Anne Jerusalem: Points of Contact between Europe and the Crusader Revered by Muslims and Knights Templar at the Time of the Dimmig, Pearls of Wisdom: The Arts of Islam at the University of
Capel and Glenn Markoe, Mistress of the House, Mistress of Kingdom’, Romanesque and the Mediterranean: Points of Contact Crusades’, Studies in Church History 36, 2000, 209. Michigan, Ann Arbor 2014, 12–16. A rare instance in which an
Heaven: Women in Ancient Egypt, Cincinnati 1996, 62. Across the Latin, Greek and Islamic World, c. 1000 to c. 1250, eds. 47. Eugenio Garosi, ‘The Incarnated Icon of Ṣaydnāyā: Light and amulet with a human form is cited is the account of the burial
19. I am very grateful to Christiane Gruber, who gave me Rosa Maria Bacile and John McNeill, Leeds 2015, 2–3. Shade’, Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations 26.3, 2015, 349. of a timthāl, a three-dimensional figure, circa 1200, somewhere
invaluable advice on this article, as well as suggesting that 35. Erica Cruikshank Dodd, Medieval Painting in the Lebanon, 48. Nikos Atzemoglou, T’hagiasmata tēs Polēs (Sacred Springs under caliphal palace in Baghdad on behalf of a Khwarazm-
this phrase should be part of the title. Wiesbaden 2004, 43, 307–8; Mat Immerzeel, ‘The Monastery of of Istanbul), Athens 1990, 104–05; Karen Barkey, ‘The Greek Shah ruler, see Isabel Miller, ‘Occult Science and the Fall of the
20. A detailed study of breastfeeding in Islamic society is in Avner Our Lady of Saydnaya and Its Icon’, Eastern Christian Art 4, 2007, Orthodox Churches of Istanbul’, Shared Sacred Sites, eds. Karen Khwārazm-Shāh Jalāl al-Dῑn’, Iran 39, 2001, 249–56.
Giladi, Infants, Parents and Wet Nurses: Medieval Islamic Views on 17, plate 2. Barkey, Dionigi Albera and Manoël Pénicaud, New York 2018, 64. Such bowls were being made in Egypt and Syria from the
Breastfeeding and Their Social Implications, Leiden 1999. 36. The verb darra means ‘flow copiously’ and the noun darr means 162–63. twelfth century; see Francis Maddison and Emilie Savage-
21. Houchang Modanlou, ‘Avicenna (AD 980 to 1037) and the ‘milk’, leading Erica Cruikshank Dodd to suggest that the 49. ‘Les femmes stériles sont les plus superstitieuses de toutes: Smith, Science, Tools & Magic, Part One, The Nasser D. Khalili
Care of the Newborn Infant and Breastfeeding’, Journal of epithet indicated ‘flowing with milk’; see Medieval Painting in car comme la stérilité est le dernier malheur en Orient, il n’y a Collection of Islamic Art, vol. 12, London 1997, 74–86; H. Henry
Perinatology 28.1, 2008, 5. the Lebanon, Wiesbaden 2004, 46. chose au monde qu’une femme ne fasse pour en être délivrée; Spoer, ‘Arabic Magic Medicinal Bowls’, Journal of the American
22. Muhammad Yazdchi, Seyed Fazel Hosseini, Kamyar Ghabili, 37. Barbara Freyer Stowasser, Women in the Qurʾan, Traditions, and j’en ai vu qui, ne sachant plus à quel saint se vouer, s’en allaient Oriental Society 55.3, September 1935, 237–256.
Samad EJ Golzari, Leila Valizadeh, Vahid Zamanzadeh, Bahareh Interpretation, New York 1994, 69–84. en pèlerinage à des églises chrétiennes.’ Jean Chardin, Voyages
Akbarzadeh, Amir Mohammad Bazzazi, Haleh Mikaeili, 38. Benjamin Kedar, ‘Convergence of Oriental Christian, Muslim
‘Neonatal Care and Breastfeeding in Medieval Persian Literature: and Frankish Worshippers: The Case of Saydnaya and the
Hakim Esmail Jorjani (1042–1137AD) and the Treasure of King Knights Templar’, The Crusades and the Military Orders:
Khwarazm: A Review’, Life Science Journal 10.1, 2013, 117. Expanding the Frontiers of Medieval Latin Christianity, eds.
23. Edinburgh, University Library, Ms. no. 161, dated 707/1307; Zsolt Hunyadi and József Laszlovszky, Budapest 2001, 90–91.
Priscilla Soucek, ‘An Illustrated Manuscript of al-Bīrūnī’s 39. Dionigi Albera, ‘Combining Practices and Beliefs: Muslim
Chronology of Ancient Nations’, The Scholar and the Saint: Pilgrims at Marian Shrines’, Sharing the Sacra: The Politics
Studies in Commemoration of Abū al Rayhan al-Bīrūnī, and Pragmatics of Intercommunal Relations around Holy Places,
ed. P.J. Chelkowksi, New York 1975, 150. ed. Glenn Bowman, New York 2015, 14; Alexandra Cuffel

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