Meaningful mingling: classicizing imagery and Islamicizing script in a Byzantine bowl

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Looking beyond comparanda in glass, the seven figural vignettes and the framing motifs of florettes and profile portraits recall elements of the so-called rosette caskets, a corpus of well-known tenth- to eleventh-century Byzantine ivory boxes decorated with a repertoire of classicizing motifs rendered in a dynamic, naturalistic style. (21) On the basis of these general iconographic and stylistic parallels, earlier studies frequently cite the rosette caskets as key comparanda for dating the S. Marco bowl. (22) Some scholars further narrow the vessel's date to the mid-tenth century through direct or indirect association with the Emperor Constantine VII Porphyro-gennetos (r. 913-59), who was long credited with spearheading a classical revival, the so-called Macedonian renaissance. (23) Neither the renaissance concept nor Constantine VII's role in it are widely accepted today. (24) Nonetheless, classicizing evidence of the tenth century continues to be privileged in discussions of the S. Marco bowl.

Efforts to date the object pay relatively little attention, surprisingly, to the pseudo-Arabic motifs. Yet an analysis of inscriptional style yields a close connection with Islamic epigraphic models of the late tenth to the eleventh century, arguing for reconsideration of the mid-tenth-century date commonly ascribed to the bowl. In addition, pseudo-Arabic motifs in other media of Byzantine art--including architecture and manuscripts--appear as early as the late tenth century but are concentrated in the eleventh to thirteenth century, further supporting a later attribution.

The pseudo-Arabic inscriptions on the S. Marco vessel possess a relatively square format and closely adhere to an emphatically horizontal baseline from which spring regular vertical extensions. Rendered in a relatively thin line, the forms are precise and evenly distributed. While nonsensical, the pseudoinscription is remarkably varied in its form, simulating the appearance of actual Arabic. (25) Some of the individual shapes loosely resemble Arabic letters--for example, kaf, lam, mim, and ta marbuta--suggesting that they were modeled on an actual inscription. (26) Features evoking true Arabic indicate that even though the pseudoscript on the S. Marco bowl is illegible, perception of it as language was important.

The most distinctive characteristic of the inscription is the prominent vegetal embellishment at the terminating points of certain "letters." This feature associates the S. Marco motif with a type of medieval Arabic script known as floriated Kufic, which was produced by a variety of medieval Islamic groups and in diverse media beginning in the mid- to late ninth century. (27) Because of geographic proximity to Byzantium, portable objects from the Mediterranean region constitute the most likely sources for possible inscriptional models. (28) In particular, Byzantine alliances and conflicts with the Umayyad dynasty of Spain and the Fatimid dynasty of Egypt resulted in the traffic of goods through trade, diplomacy, and war. (29)