The Wade Cup with Animated Script
The highlight of the cup’s decoration is the inscription around the rim, which you see on the walls around you, with letters composed of human figures, animals, and birds. This is known as animated script and it developed in northeast Iran or Afghanistan during the mid-1100s and migrated westward. The inscription on the rim of the Wade Cup is the pinnacle of this form of script with its full-figure animation. The body of the cup is covered with interlacing bands of compartments containing tiny figures of humans and animals. These represent the 12 signs of the zodiac from astrology, the prac...
Details
- Palette
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Select a color to find related artworks.
- Medium
- brass inlaid with silver
- Dimensions
- diameter: width 0.161 m; overall: height 0.115 m
- Department
- Islamic Art
- Holding institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Image provider
- cleveland-museum-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Art Genome Taxonomy
12 tags
Subject Matter
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Human Figure Both · 97%
Human figures appear in the rim inscription and in the decorative registers on the body, as stated in the catalog description.
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Animals Both · 98%
Animals and birds are visibly repeated throughout the ornament, and the catalog identifies them as components of the animated script and zodiac imagery.
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Text Both · 99%
A continuous inscription is visible around the inner rim, and the museum identifies it as animated script.
Visual Qualities
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Highly Ornamented Visual · 99%
The vessel is covered almost entirely by intricate registers, interlacing bands, compartments, and figural ornament.
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Dense Composition Visual · 99%
The tightly packed decoration leaves little undecorated surface and creates a visually dense composition.
Time Periods
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1000 - 1400 CE Art Metadata · 98%
The object is dated 1200–1221, a date range encompassed by the catalog category 1000–1400 CE Art.
Geographic Regions
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Iranian Art Metadata · 99%
The catalog gives Iran as the place of origin and associates the object with the Seljuq period of Iran.
Materials
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Metal Metadata · 99%
The museum specifies that the vessel is made of brass inlaid with silver.
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Silver Metadata · 98%
Silver inlay is explicitly identified in the museum's medium description and is visibly contrasted against the darker metal ground.
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Inlay Metadata · 99%
The medium is specifically described as brass inlaid with silver, supporting the material technique of inlay.
Cultural and Religious Styles
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Islamic Art and Architecture Metadata · 99%
The object is classified by the Cleveland Museum of Art as Islamic Art and belongs to the department of Islamic Art.
Tableware, Vessels, and Objects
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Vessel Both · 99%
The image clearly shows a wide, open, footed vessel, and the museum identifies the object as the Wade Cup.
Source & rights
Unknown artist. The Wade Cup with Animated Script. Cleveland Museum of Art.