Marco bowl is a surviving example of the Byzantine culture, wherein art set high standards for quality in craftsmanship and for the use of luxury materials. The artistic qualities inherent in the S. Marco bowl belong to the craftsmanship in their non-Christian, non-Byzantine origins and to intuition in their perception. There is no objection to seeing the classical and Islamic sources that constitute the aesthetic appeal in the bowl, but this should not lead one to believe that the S. Marco bowl was made for the sake of appropriating ancient and Islamic motifs. Otherwise, Alicia Walker is not wrong to claim that the bowl “demands” the modern viewer to rethink the antique and the exotic in the medieval world. The S. Marco bowl is a specialized kind of beauty that illuminates the hybrid nature of both ancient and Islamic, as well as the pursued and preserved insight in
Marco bowl is a surviving example of the Byzantine culture, wherein art set high standards for quality in craftsmanship and for the use of luxury materials. The artistic qualities inherent in the S. Marco bowl belong to the craftsmanship in their non-Christian, non-Byzantine origins and to intuition in their perception. There is no objection to seeing the classical and Islamic sources that constitute the aesthetic appeal in the bowl, but this should not lead one to believe that the S. Marco bowl was made for the sake of appropriating ancient and Islamic motifs. Otherwise, Alicia Walker is not wrong to claim that the bowl “demands” the modern viewer to rethink the antique and the exotic in the medieval world. The S. Marco bowl is a specialized kind of beauty that illuminates the hybrid nature of both ancient and Islamic, as well as the pursued and preserved insight in