This collection comprehensively represents nearly all types of bronze and brass items that were in use in Mavara al-Nahr and Khurasan from the 9th to the early 13th centuries.
In addition to bronze objects, the Bumiller Collection also contains a small selection of glazed ceramics. A little plate with underglaze painting on a white angob background (BC-5520) could be linked with Uzbekistan. Six birds are depicted on it, most probably partridges. One of them stands in the center of the vessel while the other five move in a circle from right to left. The painting is executed in olive green paint, while the birds’ beaks and feet are red. The background is covered in plaiting and dots, and a border of semicircles runs around the rim of the bowl. On the basis of its technical and stylistic features the bowl can be dated to the end of the 10th – beginning of the 11th centuries and attributed to Samarkand pottery makers.
A small selection of the objects making up the Bumiller Collection in Bamberg can help us better understand the wares produced by Uzbekistan’s artisans and their distribution to the south of the Oxus or Amudarya River.
You can learn more about the topic in the book-album "Collections of the Federal Republic of Germany" (volume XI) in the series "Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan in the World Collections".
The main sponsor of the project is the oilfield services company Eriell-Group.