Bowl with Cheetah

Unknown

11th–13th century · Engraved slipware · Medieval Art

Her dowry included Twelve well-proven hunting leopards, Twelve snowy hawks from Abasgia [in present-day Georgia], Twelve falconers, and the same number of falcons — From Digenis Akritis, an epic poem about a Byzantine-Arab border lord, oral poetry written down about 1000 or later Predatory cats and birds may have been intended to evoke the hunt, a popular pastime for members of the imperial court and ruling classes and regarded as good practice for military action. Treatises and copies of ancient texts on hunting dating to the eleventh and twelfth centuries suggest a renewed interest in the sport. The emperor John II Komnenos perished in a hunting accident in 1143.

Artist

Unknown

Date

11th–13th century

Medium

Engraved slipware

Culture

Byzantine

Department

Medieval Art

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1971