Devoid of visual “noise”, the message on this bowl is clear even if you speak not a word of Arabic. “Perfect balance, rhythmic intervals, powerful simplicity and clarity, elegant design.” “Without gold or embellishments, it effortlessly asserts its presence.” The translation of the Arabic proverb on this 10th century Persian bowl that lives at the Met: “Planning before work protects you from regret.” Some advice is timeless.
This bowl was made to be used- not to sit on a dusty shelf. That it has survived for over a thousand years is remarkable. This got me thinking about what from our 21st century lives might be unearthed in a thousand years. I hope it’s something museum-worthy but given our propensity for lots of cheap stuff, it could be a midden of Pez dispensers or Beanie Babies. But that needn’t be so if we remember- Fewer Things, Better Things. More advice that stands the test of time.
And Victor Hugo gets the last word. “The beautiful is as useful as the useful…perhaps more so.”