Uploaded February 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
In her latest Curator’s Pick for the #MuseumWithoutWalls, Dr. Filiz Çakır Phillip unleashes a fantastical beast kept in the Aga Khan Museum’s Collection.
Sphinxes, harpies, and simurghs are familiar sights in the visual art of Islam, appearing on diverse media including paper, textiles, metal, and ceramics. In contrast, the elephant-headed bird depicted on this fritware bowl from 13th-century Iran is one-of-a-kind. It leads us to speculate about which stories from Muslim societies’ oral traditions might have inspired the artisan. Could One Thousand and One Nights or the stories of Sindbad the Sailor help us uncover the origin of this marvellous creature?
To learn more about this object in the Museum’s Collection (accession number AKM556): agakhanmuseum.org/collection/artifact/bowl-akm556
In her latest Curator’s Pick for the #MuseumWithoutWalls, Dr. Filiz Çakır Phillip unleashes a fantastical beast kept in the Aga Khan Museum’s Collection.
Sphinxes, harpies, and simurghs are familiar sights in the visual art of Islam, appearing on diverse media including paper, textiles, metal, and ceramics. In contrast, the elephant-headed bird depicted on this fritware bowl from 13th-century Iran is one-of-a-kind. It leads us to speculate about which stories from Muslim societies’ oral traditions might have inspired the artisan. Could One Thousand and One Nights or the stories of Sindbad the Sailor help us uncover the origin of this marvellous creature?
To learn more about this object in the Museum’s Collection (accession number AKM556): agakhanmuseum.org/collection/artifact/bowl-akm556
