Preview
Upload Date
3-26-2025
Department
Classics
Label Text
This round brass bowl displays flowing Arabic calligraphy engraved around its outer surface. The text seems to repeat in four equal segments, but the exact lettering seems to change from one to the next, seemingly lacking a clear start and end. The bottom is likewise engraved, but beneath the engraving lies a half-obscured maker's mark. Although the writing remains untranslated, it approximates the delicate and flowing brushstrokes of pen on paper. It is easy to imagine an artisan slowly carving the flowing lines until their hand slips, gashing the surface. Still the metallic quality plays with light and blurs the strokes together as a sort of natural final touch. When I look at this piece, I notice the inconsistencies and coarse polishing, but also the very human strokes, almost imitating life. Today, I imagine how you, the observer, will engage this bowl. I hope that you may grasp its features—if only by your mind. As such, I have placed the bowl in a more warm light, tilted as if you were holding it, admiring each of its many minute and positively unique marks.
Camera Settings: Aperture
F5. The subject is focused with a narrow depth of field to obscure the inside and highlight the engraving.
Camera Settings: Shutter Speed
1/15
Camera Settings: ISO
100
Lighting
The photos are taken with dimmed overhead light, a partially dimmed single bar uplight, and on a black background.
Photoshop Adjustments
The photos were adjusted to a shade white-balance, to emphasize the warm tone on the metal.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Found in
ADC study collections
