The bowl with the drinker

Opening hours: Saturdays at 12:00, July
Venue: Room VI, Museum of the Alhambra, Palace Charles V.
There are very few examples with figurative representations in Islamic Art. Some believe that it is due to a prohibition in the Koran, but the truth is that the only prohibition is about adoring idol figures.
The Alhambra is in art history an important example with several figurative representations, such as the famous lions of the Fountain or the paintings of the Hall of the Kings. In these examples it is possible to observe how this prohibition of figurative representation is rather a cultural tradition than a religious prohibition.
The bowl with the drinker, which is to deny this idea of the artistic restriction, represents an Islamic ceramic typology and is from the Nasrid period. Here appears a dancing male figure dressed in the medieval fashion, carrying a glass and a wine bottle.
In this piece lies a double problem; a drinking figure that appears in Nasrid ceramic. In the museum are more pieces with figurative representations, what demonstrates that these representations have been habitual and serve to study more in depth the image in Islamic Art.