Glass Bottle with Polo Players
Bottle with Polo Players
ca1300 CE
Enameled and Glided glass
The Pergamon Museum, I. 2573
This bottle was originally made in either present day Syria or Egypt around 1300 CE. The main frieze depicts polo, which was popular among Islamic nobility as both a recreational game and a military exercise. The rosettes above the frieze point to the bottle being made for a ruler of the Rasulid Dynasty. The technique used, however, shows that it was made by the Mamluks. Mamluk glass is famous for its enameling, which was a difficult technique due to the different kiln temperatures needed for the different colored paints. The Mamluks developed a way to apply different colors without the glass deforming, which gave them control over glass production. The bottle made its way to China and was purchased by Count Friedrich von Pourtalès in 1913.