Bowl

A sprinting cheetah, with its head turned backward, occupies the center of this ceramic bowl. Made in kilns across the Byzantine Empire and shipped across the Mediterranean Sea, ceramics like this were part of dynamic feasting practices that used decorated dinnerware to prompt conversation among guests. Cheetahs featured prominently in Byzantine culture, from literature to courtly traditions—royalty even put on public displays to show off their trained hunting cheetahs. It is possible this bowl was meant to spark memories or discussions of such events.